The letter came in early March to my mailbox in the mailroom: the letterhead of a college that is different from Hope.
It’s red and white (thank goodness, not maroon and gold… sorry to all of you Calvin fans) and it’s 229.5 miles from my cozy apartment east of campus.
And what it had inside of it was a yes.
I remember what it was like to stand on campus as a freshman three years ago, feeling as if there was a lifetime ahead of me. Little did I know, the lifetime ahead of me would be true. But my time at Hope would be over in the blink of an eye.
There is no greater place I could have spent my undergraduate degree – no place I would rather have eaten Caprese sandwiches and drank coffee and traded my home in the cornfields in Iowa for a home near the beach for three years.
The diploma will say Communication and Organizational Leadership in a few short weeks, but graduation is a finale that holds much more than a degree.
It’s has been journey toward myself, but greater, a journey toward God. I wouldn’t have found myself without Him. I have a group of over 20 friends, all of whom I will keep in contact with for years to come (and forever, if it was up to me.) And I have a home here and a home back home and a home at the friend’s houses I visited during my time here.
And I will add another home to that list oh-so-soon.
In the fall, I’m getting ready to have a “ball”… at Ball State University in Indiana! (Was that too cheesy? I’m grateful my overuse of “hope” while at Hope can be transferred into my graduate career with the word “ball” at Ball State.)
It’s an 11-month program, and in July 2017, I will conclude my Master’s Degree in a Master’s of Science in Information and Communication Sciences. The best part? I learned about this program directly through the campus of Hope when the director of the program came to visit in the Business department.
In addition, due to the preparation and work experience my time at Hope has provided me, a graduate assistantship is also a part of my graduate study experience: an opportunity that helps cover the significant cost of graduate school by working 20 hours per week.
There are great things ahead, of that I am sure. And although these last three weeks are bittersweet, I can feel God beginning to blow the wind around me in a different direction. I am grateful for Hope, both uppercase and lowercase, for the preparation for the graduate opportunity I’ve been presented with for the upcoming year.
Thinking graduate school may be an experience you’d like to look into? Check out the CICS page for Ball State to learn more about my academic program, or contact me at sophie.guetzko@hope.edu for more information.