Dear Editor,
Plain and simple, a lot has happened over the past four years.
I am sure we in Northeast Arkansas would not have even though
twice about opening our daily mail or sending our children off
to school in the morning.
Recent events have got a lot of people, including myself,
thinking about life and the fact that everyone should be more
grateful. Not only has the world and the United States changed,
I know I have changed too.
I look back upon my first day of college in August 1997 like
it was yesterday. I was on my own for the first time, 550 miles
from my hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, and knew no one in
this state. I remember walking into my first college class, Mr.
Doyle's Mass Communications in Modern Society. Now that I am
a brave and strong-willed senior, I can admit that I was scared
to death, wondering if I would make it to graduation day. It
seemed almost an unobtainable goal.
Four years later...a changed world...and a changed person.
I am less than two weeks away from graduation. Between worrying
about finals, I am taking some time to reflect on everything.
I have realized that when I look back upon Arkansas State
University 20 years from now, I will not remember my GPA or where
I sat in biology. It is honestly the people and the experiences
that will stick with you, not so much the classes themselves.
There is so much I will never forget...from working overnights
at KASU, to the many road trips, to the time my mattress flew
off my car roof when I was moving apartments. (who says they
all had to be good experiences?)
Between finishing school and packing for my new job in Indiana,
I am taking time out to thank those people who really matter.
40,000 miles on my car, 130 credit hours, 46 final exams,
five girlfriends, two apartments, two cars, and one dorm room
later, I have so many memories and people to thank. There are,
of course, my parents and friends who have been there through
the years, as well as some really special radio-tv professors
who have been more like family.
In a world where there seems to be more criticism than compliments,
I would really encourage every graduate to thank those who made
them who they are today.
Robert Tabern is a senior radio-television major of Jonesboro.
