Life Update: College Graduation Reflections and What’s Next
On May 3, 2025 I could no longer call myself a college student. I crossed the stage in heels (grateful I hadn’t fallen in front of a wide audience), and stepped out of the ceremony as an alumna of Azusa Pacific University with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Honors Humanities and a minor in Spanish. The life I’d known and loved, now a series of memories etched into my mind, developed on polaroids I see in my bedroom everyday, and embedded in the songs I hear that remind me of the friends I’ve made. The most bittersweet occasion I had been anticipating, dreading, and waiting for, came. And just like that it was over. A new life ahead of me.
I could write thousands of words expressing how formative the past four years have been. I did, in fact, write an article for the university’s website where I go in depth about my experiences and all the beautiful ways APU changed my life (click here to read).
As the metaphorical confetti gets cleaned up, the glitter tossed throughout graduation festivities swept away, I find myself longing to hold onto what once was. Ever since starting my senior year I knew this transition wouldn’t be easy, because there’s so much I loved about college life and learning. Now, creating a lifestyle that implements the people and structures I had there is in my hands. It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t tie in a Taylor Swift quote, and as I write this I can’t help but think of the lyrics in “New Year’s Day,” “Hold onto the memories, they will hold onto you.” To the people I love, I will always hold onto you. But like I wrote in my APU article, I’m learning not to grasp so tightly upon the blessings in my life. I have faith they’ll still be there, even when the rhythm of life I’m in changes.
Getting to celebrate a plethora of accomplishments alongside my friends, professors, mentors, and family was a beautiful way to cap off my college experience, and I’m beyond grateful to have had people hug me as I blinked back tears.
I’ve never been so nervous for the next era, because all my life I’ve always known what the next chapter would hold. After crossing that stage, the rest of my life laid out before me, an endless series of paths of my choosing. To my fellow recent graduates, I feel you, and I know how weird it is to not have the structure of school as a comfort anymore. And yet, I know that in the nuances of navigating post-grad life, there is beauty in choice, beauty in discovery, beauty in the unknown. I don’t know what’s next, but I’m excited to find out where my love for writing, literature, and connecting with others takes me.
