As the summer comes to end, so will my time as a blogger for Around the Grove. It truly was an amazing experience to have written these blogs for all of you and I can’t thank you all enough for the support you’ve given me and to my fellow bloggers. I will be preparing to start my new chapter with the University of Maryland College Park after this blog is posted and spend the last bit of my summer vacation reflecting on the past four years that have passed. I’m glad I could share my journey with all of you who’ve read my blogs so I wanted to leave some advice for you all to hopefully assist you during your journeys.

Have a back up plan: Life happens, especially in ways you don’t want it to. Your original plan might not work out how you want it to; so it’s best to have a back up plan to fall back on so that you can have another stable path to continue on. We always have to expect the unexpected.

Learn something new: It’s always nice to learn a new skill and it helps expand your interests on different topics. A bit after this blog is posted, I’m going to be creating a Terrapin keychain craft using beads. I’ve never done something like this before so I’m excited to see how it turns out!

Be yourself: One of the reasons why I managed to get this far in my life is by me being myself and no one else. I’ve learned that you just got to be who you are to be happier in life; so I just kept being myself and it landed me great opportunities in life like writing for Around the Grove and my fellowship with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at UMD. Always be real with people because no one likes someone who isn’t being their true self.

Thank you all for joining me and my fellow bloggers on our journeys with Around the Grove! I deeply encourage you all to go on and read the blogs the new bloggers will write this upcoming year and the years to come! I know they will do just as an amazing job as we have! I wish everyone the best on their journeys and to continue pushing yourselves to achieving the goals you’ve made for your lives. Although my blogging has come to an end, I won’t be far! Soon enough, I’ll be writing articles instead and having them placed on newspapers or in video format!

Once again, thank you all for reading my blogs and feel free to read them again as much times as you want! Leave any questions, concerns, or suggestions down below! I hope you all enjoyed the blogs and you’ll be seeing me on the newspaper, on the NEWS, on a podcast or maybe on another blog site soon! Goodbye and good luck to all of you! 🙂