The start of this school year brings me great happiness as well as nostalgic sentiment. With this being my final semester at JCU, I am filled with pride but also uncertainty of what is to come. 

When I started at this institution not so long ago, I had no idea what to expect. I was not quite sure who I would be or what I would be good at. I didn’t know how I would fill my time and I had no idea what kind of relationships I would cultivate. 

All I could do was breathe and take those next steps, uncovering whatever it was I was bound to discover. Little did I know I was in the process of stumbling upon so many valuable treasures. Now, those first few days seem like a distant memory. I was nothing more than a timid, unsure student with a hunger to learn, not only academically, but about myself. 

John Carroll has offered me more opportunities than I ever imagined having for myself. One of the greatest being my role with The Carroll News. 

As my role at the paper transitions from Campus Editor to Assistant Campus Editor I will have the humbling opportunity of training newcomers and teaching all that was taught to me by my former editors and mentors. This is truly an honor that I am so pleased to have. Looking back, I never would have thought that my time at John Carroll would be as full as it has been. 

With this, I begin to wonder once again, what will come next for me? Who will I be as I enter the world beyond these gates and venture into a new stage of life? I do not have all the answers to most of my questions, I don’t even have the answers to some of my questions but, what I do know is that John Carroll, and all I have learned here has fed me. This time has shaped me and as I prepare to take these next steps, I will cherish these next few months as a student of JCU. 

It is in all of these steps that I have come to know myself a little bit better. I have come to discover my passions and where my talents lie. I have formed great bonds and overcome obstacles, both academic and personal. 

Still, I continue to move forward, just as all of us are always taking those next steps. Whether you’re an incoming freshman, a third year, a transfer student, graduating or a long-time alum, we are all figuring out those next phases of our lives. We struggle, we wonder, we make changes or fumble within trial and error. 

In some moments we experience distress or crippling uncertainty but in the next breath always comes release. Trust in those breaths. Trust in the next steps. And most importantly, trust in yourself. 

One of the greatest truths I will take away from my time at JCU is this: Trust yourself. 

As a struggling French student, too afraid to participate in class dialog, my professor pulled me aside after class and she said, “You know the words, I know you do, so trust yourself.”

And that’s what I hope for all of you.