See, this mere fact makes me remember that things are different from what they use to be. When I was growing up, I yearned for summer break and even counted down the days. Then I always dreaded the summer's end as if each day gone was another day of me walking the green mile. Now-a-days, I'm 19 years old and I'm at the THEE BEST HBCU in the country and I can't help, but to feel a deep yearning for heading back to school. And no matter what I have been through in college when it comes to guys, depression and grades, I can't blame it on Howard itself. (Except financial aid struggles) With that, nothing can ever make me feel anything less than blessed, fortunate and gratified about attending Howard University.
This year, Howard University class of 2017 is stepping on campus taking a place that once was ours and when I say ours I mean my class of 2015. And even before us, there is rich history of nothing but the best coming in and out of this great institution. But I remember being a freshman, nervous, but anxious to be attending college for the first time, in a whole new city six hours away from home. The thing that got me was how welcomed I felt from everyone and I intended to pass that on to the classes that would come after me. This year, I shall pass this on to the class of 2017 and I shall proudly do so.
Back in 2011, I was not into social media, so I wasn't able to share experiences with those coming into my class and I was not able to share the anticipating excitement. If I could go back in time, I wish I was in a mindset to where that would have been possible, but I was so kept to myself to where it wasn't even funny lol. Now, I am seeing so many students so excited about coming to a school that I have been frustrated with and enjoyed for the past two years, and it warms my heart. And it definitely gives me a case of the Howard Blues.
Now that I am entering my third year and am finally realizing how grown up I am, I feel this is the time I can truly appreciate Howard and what it has done for me. I have applied to be a mentor for incoming freshman at the school of communications, I have also reached out to a boy from my hometown to let him know that he had a friend from his own backyard that he can count on while he's at school, I have reached out to a rising sophomore as she fights to be a published journalist just as I am and next summer I want to help with move-in and enjoy my last summer before my senior year.
O boy, time really does fly when you really feel like you are where you're supposed to be. I have made some amazing friends along the way, friends I know for a fact I will have for life and they make my experience even greater. So I am eager to get on with my third year, do better than I have done in the past, be better than I have been in the past, be risker than I have been in the past and be happier than I have been in the past so I can get the most out of my education; so I can get the most out of life pre-bills lol.
There are only a few more days left back home before I head to my second home and I have the blues like nothing else. I see pictures of my colleagues headed back or coming for the first time and it brings back strong nostalgia. I also think about the people that I miss and how I shall soon be in there presence once again, something that I never take for granted. So, though with the blues, my fever is getting higher and higher as my summer days grow shorter, but I know that I shall get well soon. And the only cure for this damn sickness is to go back to where I belong... at Howard University.
PEACE
