The End of the Road

It is crazy to realize I've reached this point. It was just four months ago I was making my first trip back to Boone in years. The mission: Finish and get my degree.

I originally thought this to be an almost impossible task. I had not been in school, for roughly a decade. Add to it, one class I needed, Specialized Reporting, was the final class journalism majors needed to take. I thought I was in over my head.

Not being enrolled at Appalachian State University, for almost a decade, and it had even longer since I took a journalism class. I felt like I was getting in over my head.

And that brings me to one of my fears; the fear of the unknown. Add to it that I routinely jump for worst case scenario, I was mentally a wreck. Now I look back and think of those times. It's almost hysterical to think of me back in January.

All I need to do is, look over this blog and see the work I've done. Look on Twitter and see the responses I've received and follows gained. Take a glimpse at the work my partner and I have done, and be amazed at the things I can do now.

I wasn't familiar with Pinnacle Studio, or Filmic, and now I can navigate those rather easily. I can build an audio slideshow, OR EVEN A BLOG, which I had never done before. I've learned how mobile journalism is create niche markets and allowing for news to get out there faster.

Do I know everything? No. Did I feel behind the curve compared to my classmates who had spent the past couple of years studying, when I was working? Absolutely.

I don't mean on the material given, just on the nuances of various courses offered as the curriculum changed, or I just forgot things I learned from my first time at Appalachian.

But, with a professor like Dr. Perreault, who encouraged me, and gave me occasional feedback, I soldier through it, while maintaining a full-time job, and commuting to school.

And now here we are. In just two weeks, I'll be walking across the stage at Holmes Convocation Center, and then by August I'll be a college graduate. It'll be almost 10 years late, but I'm doing it.

As I near this next stage of my life, I have a plan set for in front of me. It's the first time in a long time I feel ready for something, and I cannot express how much Appalachian State has helped me feel that way.