Written by: Jack Orlando
There is a reason that I moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
That reason is a medium-sized document that comes with a cover. It has a picture of this university with words confirming that you completed the required steps to get it.
The thing that brought me here, that brought many of you here: a college degree.
As a senior in my last week of college, I’ve been reflecting on what getting my degree will mean. It will represent a lot of time and hard work that I have invested. It will represent hundreds of completed assignments, hundreds of hours of working at my campus jobs, thousands of decisions made and problems that I have solved.
Beyond that, my diploma will be an object to remind me of how much I’ve grown at UWSP. It will remind me of the friends I have made, the community I am a part of, the perspectives I have heard and the things I’ve learned.
I still remember moving here and my very first night on campus. After my parents left, I sat down in my freshman year dorm room wondering what to do. I had time before classes started and was on my own!
My first step was to meet people that I knew from the incoming class Facebook page. I texted them both and we met each other the next day. We talked for hours and explored all around campus. We played cards, laughed, and got to know each other.
From there, I knew everything was going to be okay. After that first step, things fell into place. I adjusted to living on campus, classwork, and started to join clubs.
Skip to November 2024. I stood up in my best friends’ wedding, along with other friends that I met at UWSP. I’ve met so many amazing people and done so impactful many things. I’m grateful for it all.
My four years at UW-Stevens Point have transformed me into a confident and independent person. I came here for an education, and I am leaving with an education, a community, lifetime friends, experiences, memories, knowledge and skills.
I have taken major and minor classes from 4 departments, participated in student organizations, worked seven campus jobs, DJd on the radio, joined a city committee, participated in the world’s largest trivia contest, written journalism stories, and the list goes on!
I came here with a goal of getting a degree. I am getting a degree, but I’m also getting a lot more than I could have known in the Fall of 2021 when I started here.
When my diploma arrives on my doorstep, I know I’ll feel proud. But I will remain even more proud of who I’ve become in my pursuit of knowledge truth. I’ll be proud of the perspectives I have learned, the things I’ve done.
I will hang my degree in a special place, and I know I will not admire it for its beautiful colors, the quality of the paper it will be printed on, or anything of the sorts.
I’ll admire it for changing me, for teaching me, for shaping me and for reminding me of my time as a student.
Once a Pointer, always a Pointer. It’ll always be a great day to be a Pointer!
Roll Dawgs!!
