I don’t know where the time has gone. In two weeks it will be a year since I first began blogging on here. It’s so funny how I wondered what things would be like in life after graduation. So here I am a year later. Senior year came and went. I enjoyed every minute of it. From time to time I check my pulse to ensure I’m a part of reality.

I have to admit I wish I was still there! But, a big part of growing up is leaving and moving forward to new horizons; inspiring horizons which is more like it. I face the world each day with a sense of fulfillment. I sense of freedom and hunger to explore the world. Life is great and I am very thankful for everything. This transition has been interesting. I am looking for my new love. My next big thing to wake up to every morning that puts a smile on my face. As I move forward to live the life of my dreams I look back to the years spent at Oswego and all that it has taught me. Oswego shall always be there and I’m always down for a visit or two.

Yes, can you believe it? I sure can’t. It’s already been a month after I graduated. I remembered walking through the hall ways not as a college freshman but just as a high school student. I remembered the days of passionately hoping and praying for better ones. I wanted a change in my environment. I yearned for new opportunities to grow and challenge myself in ways that would impact my life. My journey to and through Oswego brought all of those experiences to me. Now that, that chapter is over you ask me what comes next huh?

I have worked as hard as possible and exceeded my goals to this point. I as do thousands of recent college graduates are faced with today’s tough economy where hundreds of thousands of already full-time and part-time workers have been laid off jobs, businesses have foreclosed, and even major corporations seek bailouts. Where do we go from here you say?

Despite these harsh realities I find myself being frustrated but not concerned. Frustrated of course because I wish circumstances weren’t this challenging. But, I’m concerned that people won’t utilize a moment like this to work harder and become more than what they had envisioned from the start for their lives. Yes, that is difficult to do. It’s a challenge and you have to be up for it if you expect to move forward.

Dr. Phil, from the Dr. Phil Show recently published a blog that was dedicated to recent college graduates, “Ten Things I Wish Your Kids Would Hear at Their Graduation.” I couldn’t agree with him more and I think that all of my peers should take the time to read it. What I take from him is to be flexible, loosing a sense of entitlement, and not to be afraid to fail. I am more content now than I have ever been in my life as a result of the job market and the economy. I have learned to be content in being less than what I want and more of what I need. It comes from the expectation of having a degree, wanting the job of my dreams, my own home, and so forth.

It’s so simple and easy to want those things in a condition where the possibilities of having those things in this tough time are highly unlikely. Even if the job market and economy were great I still couldn’t expect that all my wants should be satisfied. It’s just not a reality either way when attempting to get what you want. It takes time, blood, sweat, tears, and dozens of detours on your path to getting where you would like to go. So on that path, on that journey, in your book or however you determine your guide to your ultimate success, you have to be creative and flexible to finding what you need in place of what you want in order to eventually make it to where you would like to be.

Therefore, I chose to focus on what it is that I need. I need balance. I need to work harder. I need to seek opportunities not for money, but for experience and growth mainly. Overall I’m in love with the condition of what is going on around me. It’s shaping me to being a stronger, wiser, and better person. Of all the things I can’t control I shall make it my best and for all the things I can control I shall make them INCREDIBLE! I sincerely encourage that you seek out your passion and go for it. You can make it happen. You can make it WORK! I remember the days of passionately hoping and praying for better days sometime ago to get to this point. The amazing part now is that I will be doing the same thing to get through to this next phase.

Now that things have calmed down after the climax of my four years at SUNY Oswego with Graduation on May 16th I am officially an Oswego Alum! This by far is one of the best moments of my life. It’s no joke to see how fast my time here has gone and everything is just a memory. Now that I’m transitioning to the next phase along with millions of other recent college grads isn’t the best time to be out and about in the job market.

I’m looking for employment and that is tough. But guess what peeps I am a lot tougher :-). I find the economy to be a motivating factor for me. This forces me to strengthen my tides, connections, resources, and network unlike any other. I am prepared in doing so and I have done so. This gives me more passion and a willingness to explore and seek opportunities because no matter the state or condition of the world, opportunities are always there. I have been a firm believer that if the opportunities you want don’t exist then go and lay new ground by creating them yourself. Not many people share that willingness but I sincerely hope that people dig as deep as they can and go the mile to find what it is that they would like to do after graduation.

My experience so far has been incredibly rewarding since a graduated two weeks ago. Yes, it’s very recent and I am enjoying myself. As I transition to new horizons and chapters I am extremely appreciative of all the help and support that I have been given by so many people throughout my experience at Oswego State. Though has congratulatory has things are now it wasn’t simple and nothing worth any particular value is not brought without dispute. Needless to say I have arrived and I have made it. I have rose to the challenge of being victorious over circumstances as did so many of the Class of 2009 graduates.

I plan to have an enjoyable summer and make this new phase count! As it relates to the economy, getting a job, transitioning somewhere new, paying my cell phone bill, and so many other challenges, I will just let it be a few lessons learned to continue to plug at opportunities and just continue being a good person because “your [my] spirit will take you [me] far,” Dr. Clark.

I can’t quite begin to explain what is in the air? I’m feeling unsettled just about everyday. I keep finding myself to be worried or puzzled about various things. I know it has a large part to do with graduating. This is by far one of the biggest transitions in my life second on my list. It would go right on the list of transitions directly after childbirth.

I know that I see myself being successful and doing great things. It however, is all in a matter of time. Time that can appear to be very long in nature but fast in action. There are a few weeks remaining to graduation on May 16th. Last week was the grad finale and I took my senior pictures, brought my cap and gown, and contributed to the senior class eco-fund. The eco-fund is a great project because it will help support future green initiatives for campus projects. I am going to make the most of the remaing time and I’m extremely delighted to have come this far and to have as much admiration and love for SUNY Oswego these past years!

Out of the many life lessons both inside and outside of the classroom, dreaming bigger has to be one of my top lessons. From each step and each year that I moved forward at SUNY Oswego I never once have gotten stuck or felt that I could just stop at any point and just remain where I was. After each moment in time there is always something that I wanted to accomplish whether that meant making the Dean’s list, getting a job on campus, joining an organization, landing an internship, amongst other things I just kept moving.

Moving and moving not to stop once. That is to say once I got to a place that I wanted and it became a reality I just continued to strive for more. This was not out of greed but out of need. The need to always seek improvement. The need to always learn more. The need to always give more. The need to always work harder. The need to consistently make a difference for the greater good and community at-large. None of that would be any fun or worth the wild if I were to stop at just one achievement. So, I challenge you or anyone else to take the next leap of faith to being able to continue to strive and work harder at whatever it is that you may want, love, and/or enjoy. Thats one of many lessons I learned at SUNY Oswego. What are you prepared to learn? After all it was my thoughts that carried me  and lead me to this point. What’s on your mind? What do you think about?

Here goes my final semester and its off to a quiet start which is much appreciated. I’m looking forward to a really productive time. But, really and truly the semester seems very mysterious not in a since of leaving, graduating, and/or anything like that. Its all just so mysterious because I don’t know what is to come in the next phase. Yes there are plans of job seeking and graduate school. However, beyond that are questions of who? what? where? why? when?

It was never a thought in my mind that I wouldn’t find my way. I actually found great privilege in finding and discovering new paths. These new paths represent so much including places untraveled, friendships not yet acquired, food untasted, and even romance unfounded to name a few. I’m excited about the road ahead. I would say that I’m not unsettled about much in terms of whats coming forward. I’m certain everything shall pay off for the better. Even in High School I would have never fathomed being at this stage in life; I just didn’t, nobody does. It is almost like a puzzle to me and the pieces to the puzzle are always changing and transforming leaving it to never be a complete configuration of what is to happen until I match the next puzzle piece to add a further portion to the picture; my life.

Some would find the stages that require a person to wait for the next step to be nerve racking. This is also known for many if not all as transitions in life. I find transitions to be great! Part with the old and and set sail with the new and embrace the changes as they come is how I see it. Thats what I did when I first entered SUNY Oswego and it has brought me great enthusiasm on the many types of opportunities I can have just by me wanting to explore and embrace my transitions. So despite what good or bad of a transition one can be I will look to embrace and learn as much as I can from each one.

After all, life is about growth, hardships, success, struggles, and change to name a few things. I’m just attempting to find as many puzzle pieces as I can when setting sail on each transition and journey. No I don’t always have the answers but I would definitely like to find them. I’m certain not all transitions will be good ones, but I intend to make the most of them. I may not always have what I want but I will work even harder for what I may need. Be not afraid of what is to come! Is what I say to myself on the quiet evenings as I think rapidly before I fall asleep. I say myself, champion all odds because each goal, each achievement, each trial, each error strengthen me.

Well you have it folks. It’s getting to that time of the semester when many people begin to wish they would have went to their 9:10am class everyday or should have studied just a bit longer and often. From my experiences over the past several semesters I dread finals week and the ending of the semester. I just feel as though so much stacks and packs up in just a short while.

The best way that I find that I get through this is just not to STRESS! When I think of all the amount of work due and deadlines drives me completely mad. Many of my friends laugh at me and wonder how I am able to do it but I do my best to stay on top. It hasn’t always been easy and I have faced many challenges in past semesters. Despite the difficulties I learned to never give up and to remain focus. This semester is going to be my last semester of formal class work and finals for the most part. Next semester I am will be doing a broadcast practicum and also establishing some internship. I must say that it is excited to see this coming semester unfold!!!!

I am prepared to make it an exciting time with my friends and make the most at opportunities that lie right ahead of me. It’s just so funny that 10 years ago I only dreamed of this moment. That moment would be me being in college, graduating, working, being independent, and making my way in the world. I never understand until now what people meant when they say life is too short. I am just glad to live my life!!!