A Letter to My Senior Self

Dear Senior Haily,

Writing this letter, I can only think about how fast my first year of college went by so fast, and how your Sophpmore year flew by even faster, that your last two years  treated you well  and passed by just as fast as this one. Looking back on writing this letter before you went of to your sophomore year, you probably remember how nervous you were about the Teacher’s Prep deadlines, and how the new classes might be, but also how you were excited to go back to the family and home you found during your first year at Longwood. And this was true, when you came back and threw yourself back into school, finding even more friends and doing even more things  that you love. But now you are graduating and are about to embark on the next journey in your education: your Master’s Degree program.

Going into my second year at Longwood, I remember being excited yet almost hesitant to go back. I did well in my first year: I made more friends and found a family within the Honors College that I never imagined possible, and I managed to be successful academically, as well. I knew that school would be even more difficult, and it was,  but I know that I will over come it just as I have before with the same passion and dedication, and I hope that as a senior, you have kept this outlook, and are just as successful in your next four years as you had been during your first.

Right now, I can only imagine the future that you soon face. Just another year or so if schooling, and then out into the real world as the teacher you always hoped you would be. But as you make this next big step, I hope you can look back on your past four years fondly. As of your first year at Longwood, you were an active and distinguished member within the Honors Student Association, an advanced member of the Longwood Company of Belly Dancers, and a brother of the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity.

And now, as I write this as a Junior, I can only imagine what my future holds as I look back on what more that I have accomplished; I took some of the hardest classes, and managed to come out on top. not only that, but I continued with my passion for dance, becoming Vice President of the company, and I got even closer with my fraternity brothers, took a Little, became the Recruitment Advisor, and got back in touch with my love for painting and theater  as I became heavily involved with he theater program here at Longwood. Even with this, I hope you do more; try things you never thought previously possible, like joining APO, or becoming a Special Education Ambassador. Try again to become a Longwood Ambassador, and keep trying if it doesn’t happen the second or even third time. Don’t shy away from things that you don’t think you can’t do, and tackle everything that comes your way with all you have.

Over all, I hope that you are happy with the path that you have followed, and have accomplished all that you have hoped for, such as that certification in ASD. I hope you had fun, but also did all you could to get to where you are, (and hopefully solved your stress problems by eliminating any procrastination).  Just as it has been in my first two years here at Longwood, I hope that Honors has remained your home, and even though you are graduating, that you remember that Honors, as well as Longwood,  will always be a place to return to. After all, it’s where you met your closest friends, found your interests, took you across the world, and changed for the better as a person.

With high hopes and best wishes,

(Junior) Haily Joseph