A bittersweet farewell

So its been a while since the Flunk Day post, and even though its summer, I find myself incredibly busy.

Since Flunk Day we finished our last couple weeks of classes, took our finals, said goodbye to our seniors and transitioned into summer life at Coe. For the first time at Coe I got to go to the commencement ceremony this Spring, which was awesome. Our United States Senator, Tom Harkin (a favorite of mine if you look at old posts), was the speaker and we had a beautiful day for the ceremony. Every year commencement is held outside on the quad in front of the library, and it always ends up being a beautiful day (knock on wood... I graduate next year!) and this was no exception. Sen. Harkin gave the graduates a top ten list to live by, they got their diplomas and we all said goodbye.

I still have a year left, but it was a strange feeling saying goodbye to these people who I've grown so close to in the past three years. I know I've written about the community of Coe before, but this just reminded me one more instance of how close we are with each other. As Robin, my friend who sat next to me in History class and played racquetball with me left for North Carolina, I realized how good of a friend I had gained at Coe. When Katie, my Admissions co-worker and student government mentor left for D.C., I realized how exceptional students at Coe are, and how many world-changing people Coe just graduated.

To beat the dead horse just a little bit more, we are close, and we have worldly aspirations. I can't wait to hear from my friends who are going to law school, who have taken teaching jobs, who are going to pursue graduate degrees in economics, student affairs and biology. And I know that as we spread across the globe, the bond that we had here will always remain.