The last four years have certainly proved to be an adventure. I came to tech mostly unaware of anything military, thinking I would have my brothers' college lives and come out as an aerospace engineer and in the air force. The twists, turns and decisions made along the way led to an incredibly different result though. As of yesterday I have now finished my time at tech but not as either of those. In a few months I will headed down to Alabama to start army flight training and hopefully be in the final stages of work for my M.A. in Political Science. Had you told me that this is where I would be 4 years ago I may well have laughed in your face but, we can never truly know what the future holds for us can we. Perhaps more than anything else this process has taught me that one of the most important attributes you can have is to be ready and willing to embrace change and take advantage of the opportunities that are available to you.
Along the way here I have taken a lot of courses and done a lot of studying about everything from optics to multivariable calculus to russian to international politics. I learned an amazing amount for all of those courses but, it pales in comparison to what life itself has taught me. The experiences that I've had with my friends and colleagues here have taught me so much more about being a person and living life than I could have ever imagined. Not all those experiences have been particularly happy or pleasant but, I would give them up for the world. I have often heard the idea that "education is a lifelong endeavor" tossed
around by professors at the end of terms or from the innumerable speakers who I have heard from in the years here. This is undoubtably true but, life itself should be education. If our
actions and experiences don't inform us in some way, why do or have them?
In the life ahead I hope that the education of it continues to be as amazing as it has been thus far. My friends and I are parting and going our separate ways but, the memories we've made will last a lifetime (or at least until we all have Alzheimer's) . So, signing off I'll say that hopefully we will go out and learn so we live a life of adventure that is always worth living.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Robert Frost
