To the Class of 2017,

Congratulations! The moment many of you have probably been waiting for is finally here. You are now seniors. As I watched you rush the senior steps nearly two weeks ago, I experienced a flood of emotions. At first I felt sad that my class had been “replaced”, but then I felt immediate relief that our long journey through college was almost over. As I finished and turned in my finals however, that feeling of relief quickly turned into longing. For as happy as I am to be finished with the rigor of Bryn Mawr, I am not nearly ready to be finished with my college experience completely. You have one more year in this place, and so I wanted to offer some words to consider as you embrace your seniority that I wish I had been told.

Don’t be afraid to set aside time for yourself. While it can be tempting to fill empty spaces in your schedule with work, other responsibilities, and commitments, if possible, try to leave some time for yourself. Senior year has many perks, but it comes with many unknowns, many stresses at times, and many things left to do. You will need this time to unwind, destress, hang out with friends, or just watch Netflix. At Bryn Mawr, I’ve noticed that it is all too easy for students to feel guilty when they choose to not work on school stuff, but as long as you manage your time and keep track of what you need to do, taking time for yourself can only help you do well.

Go out and enjoy the time you have with your friends. 9 months. That’s what stands between you and graduation when you come back to campus in August. It flies by incredibly fast. Enjoy every moment of those nine months. Go out to a restaurant you’ve never tried before, head to that museum you’ve always wanted to see, or go to that festival in center city. Thankfully with the technology we have today it will be easier to keep in touch with each other, but nothing can compare to the memories you make together.

It’s never too late to become involved (or even more involved) on campus. I didn’t find my groove on campus until spring semester of junior year. As a result, I have learned that it is never too late to join or become involved in activities, clubs, and organizations on campus. If you want to do it, do it.

Keep your goals in sight. No matter what your plans are after graduation, I found it easiest to get through the ups and downs of senior year by looking forward to my end goal. Whether that’s more school, a job, an internship, a service year, a gap year, or wherever your heart may lead you, planning for that and looking forward to it got me through some of the hardest parts of the year.

Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses. I know, this is incredibly cliche, but it’s true. One day when I was walking back to my room, I stopped and stood in awe of Thomas. I am going to miss this beautiful campus. Because we live, work, study, and learn here it’s easy to forget how special this place can be. So go sit in the cloisters, or lounge in one of the hammocks and admire the nature and beauty that surrounds you.

And most importantly: don’t forget to celebrate yourself and your accomplishments. A wonderful professor told my class this semester that too often she hears students talk about their work in terms of what they couldn’t or weren’t able to do. I know I am guilty of this. She pushed us to change our frame of thinking from what we didn’t do, to what we had done. I want to push you to do the same. As you probably know, senior year is hectic and chaotic at times, and there are only so many hours in the day we can spend working and doing homework. So if you ever find yourself stressed or overwhelmed next year, stop and think about everything you have done in your academic career that has lead you to that point, and be proud. Be proud of being a mawrter, a senior, and a student. Be proud of what you have done, and think of ways to healthily keep working on the rest.

As I walked up the senior steps yesterday for what was probably the last time and rang the bell to ring in the end of my undergraduate career, my heart was heavy with emotions, just like it was on May Day as I watched you rush the same steps. Enjoy every moment of your senior year, and make the most of it. Anassa Kata, 2017. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.

View of the Franklin Mountains approaching El Paso from a day trip to New Mexico with family

After my first winter break as a frosh, I struggled with a second wave of homesickness when I returned to campus for the spring semester. I was told by an upperclassman that it gets easier leaving home each time as you got older. That being said, you would think by this point in my undergraduate career it would at least be easier to leave home and come back to school. I can tell you that for me, it still difficult to leave home. Honestly, I feel like it always will be because after all, home is home. No matter how much of a home we find in the places we move to and live, there will always be something irreplaceable about going back to where you came from.

Mini high school reunion 🙂

It was particularly hard to come back this spring for two reasons. Firstly, because of my interview in Houston, I got home much earlier than I would have normally. As a result, I was home for just over five weeks, the longest amount of time I’ve been able to spend at home since I’ve been at Bryn Mawr. I am very grateful for this, as I was able to spend quality time with family and friends. The second reason was knowing that once I came back, it would be the beginning of the end. As I landed in Philadelphia it struck me that it could be the last time I was flying into the area, at least as a college student.

When I got back to school, I made it a priority to begin getting back into a schedule and routine to try and make settling back into the rigor of Bryn Mawr after over a month off as easy as possible. The semester started and if there’s one thing BMC’s academic and social culture doesn’t understand, it’s the idea of slowly easing into things. It’s only the second day of the second week and my calendar is already flooded with to-do lists, meeting times, and emails to send. Having received the green light to begin collecting data for my thesis, I also have that on my mind. While I am thrilled and extraordinarily excited about that, there is so much going on already that it is very easy to get hung up on what’s happening in the upcoming weeks and months that we forget to notice and cherish what is happening in the moment.

One thing I am going to make sure to do this semester is notice and appreciate the small things… small accomplishments… things that would usually go unnoticed when there are so many other things we are trying to juggle. One thing that was impossible not to notice was the blizzard we had over the weekend! Winter Storm Jonas brought us mawr snow than we knew what to do with! (See what I did there? 🙂 ) There is certainly beauty all around us, snow or no snow, and I am going to be soaking up every bit of it the next four months.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through a Mawrter’s house                                 Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.                                                         Her finals were submitted by e-mail with care,                                                                     In hopes that her grades soon would be there.

She was nestled all snug in her bed,                                                                            While visions of lanterns and owls danced in her head.                                                  And with graduation just a semester away, thinking of her cap,                               She finally settled her brain for a long winter’s nap.*

*Inspired by Clement Clarke Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas”

Oh how I wish things were this simple! Bryn Mawr is a very rigorous institution. There is no denying that. As a result, during the academic year in general, but especially during finals and the period of time we spend waiting for grades after we submit everything can be a taxing and anxious time for many students. Within this environment, it becomes too easy to put so much stress on and hold ourselves to impossibly high standards, making it hard to realize and appreciate just how much we accomplish and are capable of. Throughout my seven semesters at BMC, there have been multiple times when I have wondered how I made it to Bryn Mawr and questioned if I belonged there amongst so many incredibly intelligent classmates. Junior and senior year have been the most difficult for me. Wondering which internships to apply for, which classes to take, wondering how I would fit studying for the GRE in, applying for jobs, working multiple work study jobs, and planning a thesis have made for a busy and stressful two years. Second semester of senior year might be a little less hectic, but graduation and the emotions and new beginnings that will bring are both daunting and exciting in their own respects.

My undergraduate journey so far has made me realize something incredibly important I wish I had been told during freshman year. While it is of course important for us to put our all into our work, we must also remember that we are human, there are limits to how much we can take and do well with, and we are not perfect. We try our best and our hardest, but we must remember to make time for and take care of ourselves, mentally, emotionally, and physically. We have a tradition at Bryn Mawr where we make “Done is Good” lists. You get together with your friends and write down a list of all the things you have to get done by the end of the semester. Next to each task, you put a piece of candy and as you finish each item, you get to eat the candy as a reward. As people finish all of their work for the semester, Facebook becomes flooded with statuses saying “Done is Good”. While it is most definitely a wonderful feeling when everything is done and submitted, I know how easy it is to worry and fret over completed work, afraid it’s not enough.

A close friend of mine reminded me this finals season that while done is good, it is also perfectly fine for it to be good (enough). She helped me realize how hard I have worked this semester and how I put everything I had into my final papers. I had done everything I could, and that is good enough. No amount of worry, anxiety, or stress will change this semester. We must remember to acknowledge our strengths, accomplishments, and successes no matter how big or small they appear to us as. We must remember we are human, and that we must take care of all of our needs, not just our academic ones, to be happy and healthy both inside and out.

Facebook has a neat (albeit kind of creepy) feature called “On This Day”. The app runs on the site and each day, memories of pictures, posts, or statuses show up on your feed reminding users of what they were up to on that day for as long as they have had an account. To my surprise, my reminder for today was a check-in at Philadelphia International Airport. I say “to my surprise” because I simply cannot believe it was four years ago that I visited Bryn Mawr for the first time. It’s already been four years since I left home for a college visit and found the place that would soon become my second one.

A photo of Senior Row I took on my first visit to Bryn Mawr, November 11, 2011

A couple weekends ago, the Admissions Office hosted its 2015 Travel Scholars. Since the Travel Scholar program is how I was able to visit BMC during my senior year of high school, I could not help but feel nostalgic. Bryn Mawr’s generosity afforded me the opportunity to visit, and I owe where I am today in large part to that experience. Spending time with this year’s scholars brought back my own memories of what it was like to see and experience Bryn Mawr for the first time. One of my favorite things about being a tour guide is seeing the same look of awe and wonder on the prospective students’ faces that I had when I toured for the first time.

When I left El Paso four years ago today to visit BMC, I was scared, nervous, excited, and every emotion in between. While I had traveled by myself before, I had never lived anywhere by myself, away from family, friends, and the familiarity and comfort of home. I remember pulling up to the Admissions Office in a Blue Bus and walking in with my backpack, suitcase, and sleeping bag not sure of what to expect. I had no idea the opportunities in store for me, or the happiness being a member of the community would would bring to me.

My hosts took me to get dinner, and every person we saw on the way to the dining hall went out of their way to welcome me, ask me how I was doing, and ask me if they could answer any questions. I wasn’t even a student and I felt like I was part of the community within twenty minutes of arriving on campus. After spending the night in a dorm common room, the following day I was able to sit in on two classes. I was impressed by how invested the students were in their discussions, and how the professors made it a priority to make sure every voice in the class was heard. I knew then that socially and academically, Bryn Mawr was where I wanted to be.

Convocation 2015

Four years ago today, I started a journey and chapter of my life that will be coming to a close in six short months when I graduate. During my time at Bryn Mawr I have been encouraged, supported, pushed, loved, cared for, and advocated for by friends, professors, mentors, and each and every person I have met along the way. I have been pushed outside of my comfort zone, I have worked harder than I ever could have imagined, and I have learned the true value of a Bryn Mawr education with each of the ups and downs that come with it. As the days get shorter and chillier and as we move closer to the craziness of the Holidays, I am reminded of how quickly this semester and year will go by. Before I know it, it will be May and my time at this special place will come to a close. I came to Bryn Mawr thinking I was leaving my home, but I ended up gaining a second home among its gothic arches, cloisters, and cherry blossoms. For this, and for the people and places that have helped shape me into the woman I am today, I am forever grateful.

Update (11/11/15): This is what Facebook reminded me of today. Interviewing on 11/11/11 at 11:11? I don’t think that was a coincidence 🙂