At the end of Honors 100, the introductory course that each student in the Honors program must take, you are asked to write a learning statement. This statement is meant to reflect on your time so far and begin to envision what the next four years might look like. In my statement I wrote, “by the end of my time at UW, but hopefully before then, I want to know that I made the right choice for myself in coming here.”

 

At that moment, this wish was mostly reflective of how unsustainable my mental health was at that point (uprooting yourself from your home and community to move to a new city can do that). But it also recalls my desire to find “the answers” —  to know what I was going to major in, what career I wanted, what my future might look like. Answering these questions was what I expected to come away from college with. I was very much focused on my own little microcosm. 

 

That world has richly opened up since then, and will continue to expand. I have been able to start unlearning the pitfalls of a society steeped in individualism. I am learning how to grow towards our collective liberation, explore our capacity for love, and discover a universe of interconnectedness. I am learning how to move through grief and fear and pain, how to embrace change. I am learning how to make love and care for others the most natural extension of love and care for myself. Many things through the past four years have guided me to this, but academically, my Honors classes — encouraging interdisciplinary, introspective, intentional learning — have played a big part. 

 

When I was a freshman, I thought that choosing the right major was the key to finding “the answers.” Now, I am about to graduate from my major; I am closer to knowing what jobs I might want to have and what paths I might want to take, but those aren’t the things giving me clarity or purpose. Continuing to discover who I am as a human, in connection with other people and social, political and environmental contexts gives me direction. It asks me to consider, given my skills, my positionality, my personality, my passions, how do I show up in this world for myself, and for others? 

 

Five months after I wrote that first learning statement, I found a community that was actively welcoming and committed to building relationships, and could finally say I made the right choice to come here. I had known it was the right academic choice to challenge me, but I was relieved to find that connections could also thrive here. Many times since then, however, I have been reminded that it was the right choice. I do not blindly idolize this institution, with its many flaws, but I do recognize it as part of the rich landscape I’ve been immersed in that has shaped my growth over the past four years. 

 

I’ve developed my academic path around the intersection between education, youth and public space, especially in the context of learning in and about place. I’ve prioritized holistic growth by practicing self-reflection, community building, collaboration, creativity and multimodal communication of ideas. I’ve grown so much. I’m excited to keep watering the garden.