President Kerwin, I Thank Thee

Out of all of the speakers we have had throughout the course of Explorations so far, President Kerwin’s was most inspiring to me. A lot of other speakers we had didn’t really leave much of a lasting impression on me and simply reiterated a lot of “advice” that I frankly already was aware of. Being undecided, I’ve been hearing the phrases like “Get involved!” “Take as many classes as you can!” “Explore everything and find what you love and what you dislike – they’re both valuable!” since my junior year of high school. Being force fed these “words of wisdom” over and over has weighed down upon me and in no way helped me actually feel better about my college experience so far and what I’ve accomplished already.

President Kerwin changed that. His discussion about how college is meant to feel abrasive and create an uncomfortable feeling for its students actually was the most comforting piece of advice that I have heard. Knowing that I should feel overwhelmed, that I should feel scared and alone at times, that I should be feeling challenged with every aspect of college, allowed me to take a deep breath and realize that everything that has been happening is right on track. His argument that college, if every aspect of it essentially does its job well, will change the person who I am over the next four years was inspiring. I don’t exactly know why because I like to think that I knew that after four years I’d be changed. But, I don’t think I understood it in terms or to the effect of how President Kerwin said it. He stated that it will not be a major change and that I will most likely be a completely different person in many ways. It then made sense to me that college should feel abrasive because I have started this process of intense change. This is the beginning of the traumatic experiences I will undergo within the next four years. And while that sounds like it should induce more fear, it has actually been one of the few things that has alleviated my fears about college.