I’ve always viewed my life as sections that ended at a certain year. For the majority of my youth, I looked forward to the year 2015, because it was the year I graduated high school. After I started college, I began looking towards 2019, the year I’d graduate college. And now, it’s here.

I chose Piedmont mostly because my family was familiar with it and I visited the campus a lot when my brother attended. I loved the peacefulness of the campus, and after meeting a few students and professors, I decided it was where I wanted to go. I was half an hour from home, so there was some distance, but if I needed help it wasn’t far. Piedmont just seemed like the place for me.

I remember choosing mass communications as my major on a whim. I always wanted to write and put my never-ending stream of thoughts to good use. At first, I wanted to write fiction, so I looked into creative writing. Then journalism hit me on the head one day, like an apple falling out of a tree. Studying communications just felt right. I’ve always loved documenting experiences– there was a time I never went anywhere without my pink digital camera. There’s always been a little mass comm major inside of me, just waiting to show up at the right time.

The last few years haven’t been easy. I’ve had to deal with a few roommates who weren’t ideal matches. I had to balance a part time job and school, which made my grades suffer a bit. I’ve gained friendships, maintained friendships, but some fell through the cracks. I’ve cried buckets of tears over a variety of events and things, but I’d always wipe my tears away and get back on my feet.

But among all of those instances, I’ve also had some of the most amazing experiences that left me lying in bed, thinking about how lucky I am to have met the friends I’ve made. People talk about how my memory is insanely good, but I think I’m mainly just a memory hoarder. I want to cling to each moment and lock it away so I never lose it. And the past four years have created some of the most amazing memories I never want to lose.

So as I finish my last semester at Piedmont, I cling to certain moments and I absorb all of the sounds and sights and smells I experience in that moment. I cling to late night walks across the bridge, the taste of Sunday brunch, the crisp mountain air that slowly warms in the spring, the spontaneous movie and video game nights. My final semester leaves me feeling bittersweet and I know I’ll be crying even more in the next few months, although most of it will probably be about my capstone. For now, I’m just going to keep hoarding moments that I’m going to treasure for the rest of my life.