In just three months I’ll be
sad. I’ll probably go through
some sort of withdrawal, showing
the acute symptoms of, say,
a substance-free kid.You see, I don’t want to
leave. I love it here.

This is college; this is what
all old people say are the greatest
years of our lives, and for me,
it ends in three months that will
surely seem a lot more like a few
weeks.

I’m starting even to feel like
an old fart. I do a lot of reminiscing
and sitting back and watching
what my senior classmates
and I have become, what we’ve
progressed from since joining
this community in the fall of
1998.

And I realize it is much the
work of Guilford College that we
are now maturer, more thoughtful,
more intelligent. And above
all, we now have the confidence
to lead in some small corner of
the world, and in some cases, a
much larger corner, where we
can “make a difference,” and
“heal the world; make it a better
place.”

I credit Guilford for what it
has turned us into. I credit the
Quaker spirit of community and
equality; the brilliant professors;
the idealist hippies; the devoted
jocks; the confident queers; the
insomniac artists; the affable
stoners; the carefree chain
smokers; the cheery alcoholics;
the fearless physics majors; the
fearful misanthropes; the unswerving
Republicans; me; you;
the prospective student you
hosted last year who, thanks to
your representation of an honest
slice of Guilford life, decided
Observer: to give this place a try; and Don
McNemar, for leading this school
in a new information-age direction
that will only help it succeed
in this new information
age.

Aye, it’s liberal arts we’re
here for, and it’s liberal here indeed.
This place is unique. Visit
nearly any other college and
you’ll find mostly boring people
who all dress the same and act
the same and think the same
way.

At Guilford, nothing gets by
without second guesses, because
each person has a novel
idea about how things should be
and should be done.

While only little changes
here, only little should change.
The most important being the
change students make from the
time they enroll to the time they
graduate. That is, students like
myself who have gone from lost
and undirected in high school
to motivated and focused as college
almost-grads.

Then, wait, what am I saying?
I won’t be sad when I leave.
I’ll be ready and thrilled.

I’ll finally get a chance to
apply everything Guilford has
taught me. I’ll be able to show the
world what this great school has
made of me (which is a good
thing, I promise).

I’ll finally have the chance to
tell the whole world about what I
know community can be.