On Saturday night, I attended the launch party of Puget Sound’s new One [Of a Kind] campaign. Learn more about it here, but in essence it’s a new publicity and fundraising initiative for the school. The communications office emailed me weeks ago and asked if I wouldn’t mind having my picture taken for the school’s new publicity campaign, which of course I didn’t, but I had no idea that it was such a grand effort until the launch event. They had completely transformed the fieldhouse into this beautiful event space. It felt like I was living a more glamorous, tv version of my life. I met several trustees and board-members, and learned more about Puget Sound “back then”. It was great to see how many alumni were still so passionate about the school and what it offers its students. I hope when I’m an alumna that I can be just as supportive of Puget Sound’s student body and just as grateful for what the school has given me. It was encouraging, and inspiring.
All in all, I felt very honored to have been invited, and very proud to be a Logger. And I finally got to meet Ronald Thomas!
It was also surreal to see a life-size picture of myself on the tent wall.
This celebration of Puget Sound and hearing about other people’s experiences and stories made me think back to when I was first looking at colleges. That was when Harned Hall was brand new and Weyerhauser Hall just a glimmer in some architect’s eye.
I didn’t actually want to visit Puget Sound. I was tired and bored of colleges and hearing the same information about how my life was going to change. Also, my parents neglected to tell me that in addition to a tour, they had also scheduled an interview with an admissions counselor. I was in no mood to act interested and think up questions for anybody and make a good impression. I think I actually begged my parents to ditch the interview and just go back to the hotel. To no avail: I dragged myself out of the car and was determined to hate everybody.
Then I glanced up at Jones, covered in red and gold ivy with autumn leaves covering the brick steps, and my heart thawed slightly. It thawed even more during the lovely tour, and by the time I finished my interview, it was positively overflowing with pleasant first impressions.
That was where my Puget Sound journey began. I’m not going to pretend it was the sunniest and most pleasant four years of my life: it’s been unbelievably hard at times, and I’ve been challenged in ways I never imagined. There’s been a lot of sweat, blood, and tears (mostly during finals weeks when there are 456 things to do and only four days to complete them all). But I can’t think of a better place to become an adult and to grow into myself.
If this trip down memory lane and the sentimental reflections that it triggered bored you, I do apologize. But I love this place, and it helps to remind myself of that fact in November, when it’s windy and rainy and I have papers and applications and meetings and jobs that all require my undivided attention at the same time, which I think is scientifically impossible. But Saturday night reminded me that it IS worth it. Here, I’m simultaneously part of a legacy much greater than myself as well as valued for my own individual passion and ability as a student. Therefore, I count myself very lucky indeed.