{"id":2360,"date":"2018-09-26T17:50:19","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T17:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/?p=2360"},"modified":"2019-06-29T20:00:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T01:00:14","slug":"love-your-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/2018\/09\/26\/love-your-major\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Your Major"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Austin Bauer<\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span>t was one of those moments that you know is going to happen, but you still don\u2019t quite know what to expect. <\/span><\/p>\n

You get in line and shuffle on through. You make your way onto the stage. And then just like that, it\u2019s over. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re graduated.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a simple walk across the stage<\/a>, my journey of the past four and a half years came to an end. <\/span><\/p>\n

Admittedly, I don\u2019t quite remember the walk across the stage. My heart was pounding too loud and I was pretty focused on making sure I didn\u2019t trip or do anything embarrassing (I was the very last one in line, so I had to make sure winter commencement didn\u2019t end on a clumsy note).<\/span><\/p>\n

While walking across the stage remains fuzzy in my memory, I know that the four and a half years leading up to it won\u2019t be. <\/span><\/p>\n

My time at Western was not at all what I expected it to be. \u00a0It was so much better than I ever thought it would be.<\/span><\/p>\n

I never thought I\u2019d have the opportunity to travel across the country, to the Pacific Northwest, our nation\u2019s capital, or and even overseas.<\/span><\/p>\n

I never thought I\u2019d briefly cover student government, much less a presidential campaign in Iowa, brush up against real Secret Service agents or witness a sincere act of humanity when CNN\u2019s<\/a> Chris Cuomo<\/a> picked up a glove a lady dropped on the ground. <\/span><\/p>\n

I never thought I\u2019d crawl in a wild cave or fly for the first time. I never thought I would see two of the four existing copies of the Magna Carta.<\/span><\/p>\n

I never thought I\u2019d present my own research at academic conferences. I never thought I\u2019d learn all the things I did from some of the most brilliant people I have ever met, both faculty and student alike. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps more importantly, I never thought I\u2019d meet the amazing people I did who made Western a home and my time spent there a treasure worthy of a griffon\u2019s guarding care. <\/span><\/p>\n

But I did. <\/span><\/p>\n

As I have said before in another publication that is near and dear to my heart, I believe Western really is a place where everything is possible and I\u2019m thankful for the opportunities it provided for me. I\u2019m hopeful that those who come after me will feel the same.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t