Letter to Senior Self

Dear Shannon,

It is hard for me to imagine what your life is like, only three years from my present, especially now, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hopefully corona is distant memory to you and has made us all stronger.

You will no doubt have faced many losses and victories between the time I write this letter, at the conclusion of our freshman year, and when we walk across Wheeler Lawn the stage on Wheeler Lawn. Though I can not be at Longwood right now, I am optimistic for the future. Fall 2020 will be a fresh start for us all, in which we can begin again, reuniting after five months away.

It is unlikely that the world has changed between my time and yours, a mere three years apart, but I know that our lives will be substantially different. Hopefully you have been accepted into a local graduate program and have figured out your life’s path. Hopefully you have grown wiser in your time here at Longwood and will keep the serenity of Farmville in your heart, no matter where you are in the world.

You have no doubt studied abroad by now, been across the world and discovered new things all around you, but remember that happiness is always closer than you think it is.

Remember not to dwell on past failures or successes. Always find ways of improving yourself so that when we leave we can be assured that our existence has impacted the world in some way, no matter how small.

Good luck out there!

Shannon