Dear Senior Samantha,

How did four years of your life go by so quickly? It’s hard to believe that you wrote this as you were finishing up your first year at Longwood. It feels like move-in day was just yesterday. You have made great friendships as well as great accomplishments.

Speaking of friendships, you managed to find a fantastic group of people to bond with during your first year. Between the first days of the Honors Retreat and your last days of freshman year, you found friends who were there for you no matter what the situation was. They managed to be there for you in a split second if need be. They were there through the tears and heartbreaks to the grins and laughs. Not many feelings could ever beat that. But not only were they there for you, you were there for each of them.

I am extremely proud of you. You have worked SO hard these past four years, and you have finally reached your goal! Your college career hasn’t always been full of sunshine and rainbows, and quite frankly, your first semester was a little rough, but you did it. The transition from being a senior in high school to a freshman in college is difficult for most, but your dedication to better yourself second semester was impressive. You told yourself to buckle down and focus on school and look at where it led you — Dean’s List during your second semester! I hope that as the years went on, each year rewarded you with new friendships and new opportunities. Remember that through it all you kept a positive attitude and worked hard for all that you did. Without Honors, you wouldn’t have become the person you are now. You wouldn’t have met the people you did. You wouldn’t have had all the opportunities for new experiences that you did. College was stressful at times and there were days you went through tissues like nobody’s business, but it was all worth it in the end. Whether you have a job waiting for you after graduation or you’re stuck job hunting, you got your degree! Everything happens for a reason, and as Mom told you every time you called her crying, “everything will get better.” I hope these were the best years of your life! Keep your head held high and your dreams even higher!

Love,

Your Freshman Self Samantha 🙂