Wow. I am less than a month away from graduating. Sitting here trying to capture the last four years of my life in 600 words or less is not an easy task. To be honest, I never really wanted to come to USD in the first place.
Having grown up in San Diego, I always thought I would leave for college, move out of the house and go somewhere completely new. Obviously, that is not how it all turned out. When I was submitting my intent to enroll in the spring of 2005, I was sure I had made the worst decision of my life.
It was O-Week and being a commuter student I got to move in for a few days in the Vistas. Once O-Week was over, I moved back home and settled into the routine of commuting back and forth everyday. I was always very involved in high school, so I figured why not make the most of this situation? I needed something to connect me to this campus other than my classes, so I decided to run for Associated Students freshman senator. Well, as luck would have it, I lost. In all actuality, it was probably one of the luckiest things that could have happened to me. After campaigning and getting 50 student signatures from people I did not even know, I realized I cared more than I thought I did.
I do not remember exactly how it happened, but I stumbled upon the Filipino Ugnayan Student Organization, and I am not even Filipino. It was strange how comfortable I felt in that community. I am still a member at large of FUSO and can definitely say that this is where I gained my foundation and a newfound USD pride.
Slowly but surely, my "worst decision" actually turned into something different. My sophomore year another opportunity came my way, and I decided to become a founding father with eleven other gentlemen of Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity. My experience with Phi Kap is something I would never trade for anything. I am so proud of the leaders that Phi Kap has helped create and produce, especially from the founding class.
My freshman dream of being an AS class senator was revived when I was given the chance to be one of the junior senators. I decided I wanted to be even more involved and ran for AS vice president of student organizations for 2008-2009.This past year with AS has been a ride. Our Executive Board has gone through a lot, and in my opinion we have made big strides to improve AS and our campus.
It really is bittersweet to know that this is all ending soon. I was asked to write this because of my leadership on campus, but I am not really comfortable calling myself a "leader" because I do not really know what defines a leader. The biggest lesson I have learned from all of my classes and experiences is that it is all about the risk. Getting involved with FUSO, Phi Kap and AS were all risks, but throughout these past four years, I have met some of the most amazing people, made some of the best friends and lost some of them on the way too, but it has definitely all been worth it.
So that is it; take risks, do not care what people might think and do what you want to do.
Congratulations class of 2009!
