Final Countdown: Graduation
By Colin Leon Guerrero
The end of summer brings in fall 2013. While for some this will be their ?rst semester at the University Of Guam as they begin a new chapter of their lives, for others it’s time to say good bye and graduate. For those just starting they have a little time to ?gure out who they are and what they want to do before their time here comes to an end as well. As we know all good things must come to an end, and because graduation is just 124 credits away. For seniors that time is now. Not so long ago they were freshmen eager and nervous about facing new challenges, making new friends, getting the right classes and deciding on what major they will be declaring. There are countless obstacles they had to overcome such as ?nancial aid, registering for classes, work, relationships, Web Advisor, and the constant fear of not having enough credits to graduate. Rarely do seniors graduate with the feeling that they learned everything that they could. “It’s bittersweet because did I really learn, but it’s exciting once I get that paper,” said Ayshalynn Perez a health science major who also expressed that she wants to make this semester her best yet. “I want to boost up my GPA and hit a home run,” said Perez who knows that is her last chance to leave a good impression with her teachers and the school. Recent spring 2013 graduate Darlene Balagot shared the same mentality as Perez about her last semester, “I wanted to do my best, because you’ll never get a second chance at a last semester,” said Balagot who graduated Summa Cum Laude (for freshmen that is the highest honors a student can graduate with) with a degree in criminal justice. For most planning on graduating this fall, the semester will probably be the hardest they will ever go through. One of the many reasons is the looming cloud of ?nal projects, papers, or internships that stand in the way of the goal that hundreds have been studying tirelessly for. Making deadlines and the task of gathering all the knowledge one has learned in four or more years into one project or paper is stressful if not horrifying. Perez is aware of the stress and lack of sleep, but is up to the challenge, “You feel that you’re not ready to go into the real world, but hopefully I’ll graduate with all the knowledge I learned in my undergrad career,” said Perez who will de?nitely be smiling big at graduation.
“Everything is all you, and you wouldn’t have gotten there without pushing yourself,”
said Perez who explained that graduating from colleg H\?Y??\?[? [?Y? ???? ?\???^\?[? H??[?? \? ?[Y\?\?\? ?XZ?H \? ?[Y\?\??HH ?[?]?\????] ?Y\?H ?[ ? ?]?H ??^H?\??][ ???]?H?X?? ? H XX?\?? ]]?H ]Y? YH ??]X? [?[ ?\??X]\??[?H?\? ? Y[?[?H ?^H ]H?[???X?]\?H [?H? H?]?H ??]H\? ?[Y\?\??] \?XZ?H]??[? ???