As promised.
My thoughts on graduation. I typed this up last night, and only just finished editing it. I hope you enjoy.
Three years ago, I was working full time at a minimum wage job and looking ahead to September when I would once again be starting school. I won’t say I was looking forward to it, because I wasn’t. My reasons? Well let’s just say that there were several of them, and lets say that some of them were valid and leave it at that.
After I graduated high school I started to develop an interest in computers and the Internet. So when I failed out after my first term at Memorial University of Newfoundland, I took a chance and put my name on the waiting list for the three year Programmer Analyst co-op program at the College of the North Atlantic.
September arrived and I joined a class of some 100 students looking to learn computer programming, some web design and a sprinkling of networking. To be specific I ended up in one class of 25 people, I would be taking all my classes with this group five days a week for the next three years. I remember that first week I looked around the class and tagged a few people who I figured would make it to graduation, and some people that I would have bet money that they wouldn’t. The first year passed and the summer arrived, bringing with it the part of the course I most looked forward to, the co-op part. This was my chance to get a few months work to see how working with computers for the rest of my life would be. Needless to say I loved it. I returned to classes in September and tried to look forward to graduation. I found it was much to far away and focused on the end of the term instead. It is also duly noted that a few extra students transferred into my class that fall. I became very good friends with one in particular, but that is a story for another time.
Fast forward to the present. Today I wrote my final exam. The whim I had started on three years ago was finally finished. I looked around the exam room today at the 20 students I had spent so much time with. It was to say the least a very odd feeling. It wasn’t only the building and the teachers I would be leaving behind when I finished. The group of students I had learned with, and for some courses had worked very hard with. I know that I will never see most of them again. The bus ride home found me lost in many thoughts of what was to come next. As the bus bumped along, the world seemed brighter some how, and even the rain seemed cheerful. I found myself wishing for a few flashes of lightning, fireworks to celebrate my success. My thoughts drifted again to the people I had been with for the last three years. I have to say that there were some surprises. People I had thought would graduate aren’t going to, and even some people I didn’t think would graduate, have. It’s hard to know where to end this. I mean I know that school is over for me now, and while I might do a few extra courses I also know that I will never again be a full time student. At the same time though, I can’t help but feeling that in a way my life is only just beginning, despite the 20 years experience I already have with this living thing.
Three years ago, I was working full time at a minimum wage job and looking ahead to September when I would once again be starting school. I won’t say I was looking forward to it, because I wasn’t. My reasons? Well let’s just say that there were several of them, and lets say that some of them were valid and leave it at that.
After I graduated high school I started to develop an interest in computers and the Internet. So when I failed out after my first term at Memorial University of Newfoundland, I took a chance and put my name on the waiting list for the three year Programmer Analyst co-op program at the College of the North Atlantic.
September arrived and I joined a class of some 100 students looking to learn computer programming, some web design and a sprinkling of networking. To be specific I ended up in one class of 25 people, I would be taking all my classes with this group five days a week for the next three years. I remember that first week I looked around the class and tagged a few people who I figured would make it to graduation, and some people that I would have bet money that they wouldn’t. The first year passed and the summer arrived, bringing with it the part of the course I most looked forward to, the co-op part. This was my chance to get a few months work to see how working with computers for the rest of my life would be. Needless to say I loved it. I returned to classes in September and tried to look forward to graduation. I found it was much to far away and focused on the end of the term instead. It is also duly noted that a few extra students transferred into my class that fall. I became very good friends with one in particular, but that is a story for another time.
Fast forward to the present. Today I wrote my final exam. The whim I had started on three years ago was finally finished. I looked around the exam room today at the 20 students I had spent so much time with. It was to say the least a very odd feeling. It wasn’t only the building and the teachers I would be leaving behind when I finished. The group of students I had learned with, and for some courses had worked very hard with. I know that I will never see most of them again. The bus ride home found me lost in many thoughts of what was to come next. As the bus bumped along, the world seemed brighter some how, and even the rain seemed cheerful. I found myself wishing for a few flashes of lightning, fireworks to celebrate my success. My thoughts drifted again to the people I had been with for the last three years. I have to say that there were some surprises. People I had thought would graduate aren’t going to, and even some people I didn’t think would graduate, have. It’s hard to know where to end this. I mean I know that school is over for me now, and while I might do a few extra courses I also know that I will never again be a full time student. At the same time though, I can’t help but feeling that in a way my life is only just beginning, despite the 20 years experience I already have with this living thing.