Last week there were large groups of admitted students roaming around campus, some of whom were sitting in groups on the lawn visible from a classroom I was in. They started playing a get-to-know-you game, and the students in my classroom (most of whom were third-year environmental studies majors) rushed over to the window to watch them and figure out what they were doing.
The scene was nearly identical to one a week earlier in the kindergarten classroom where I volunteer once a week. There was a cement truck outside of the classroom window, and the kids kept jumping up out of their seats to run over to the window and watch the truck. They gathered their five-year-old bodies around the window in the exact same way that the 20-something-year-old ENVS students gathered their bodies around the window, and I couldn’t help but see the similarities between the two groups.
To back up, I hope that I have matured and grown as a person since I was in kindergarten.
though maybe my thesis presentation did look like this “presentation” I did in kindergarten
In many ways, I’m sure I have. Heck, I’m sure I’ve grown since the start of this year–I’ve grown since the start of this week. I’ve become more confident in myself and my abilities, in my research and my interests, in my approach to life and my attitude about the world. I’ve gained experience being a mentor and a teacher and a student and a friend, and I’ve started to become comfortable with not knowing (see my post on intention). And I’ve seen everyone around me grow as well–the first-years–as well as my fellow upper-division–students who I blog alongside, my ENVS and Hispanic studies peers graduating with me three weeks from today, my sister adjusting to college across the country, my dad adjusting to being an empty-nester, my high school friends finding their post-college paths, the list could go on and on and on and on. We are all growing, every day, and that should be celebrated!
But I think it’s okay (in fact, more than okay–this should be celebrated too) that there are some ways that we, as newly-turned-adults heading out into the “real world,” have not changed since we were five years old. Many of us still have the same curiosity that runs rampant in my kindergarteners (and where would we be without this curiosity? Not graduating as the environmental studies class of 2016, with 18 unique capstone projects, probably). We still have our personal and unique interests, albeit these interests have likely changed since kindergarten (my kindergartners’ interests range from Star Wars to Legos to Fruit Loops)– interests that make us, us (where would Kristy be without her interest in vegetarianism, or Max without his interest in e-waste, for example?). I do not believe our interests or our passions define us in themselves, but I believe they are an important part of who we are. And we still like to laugh and play, we still like to have friends and have fun, and we still like to engage with the world around us.
Marlene reflects in her first post on how transitions are an opportunity for growth. And so, that is how I will approach this next stage of my life. I will continue to immerse myself in challenges and in situations that make me uncomfortable, and I will continue to try and be the best possible me. I will put myself out there and embrace life as it comes. I will grow–as a mentor and a teacher and a student and a friend–and I will ground myself in the parts of me that are already good–because those parts are there, and are important, and should not be lost as I move forward.
(the featured image is a painting I made last winter of Multnomah Falls–a reminder of my growth as an artist and as an Oregon resident)