Photo courtesy of Madison White
After three years at Tarleton State University, two bachelor’s degrees and one very tired me, I will finally be graduating in a couple weeks. I’ve spent the past two and a half years working for the Student Publications and Student Affairs Marketing and Communications office, and I could not be more thankful for my time here at Tarleton.

Being at Tarleton has really shaped who I am and has helped me figure out where I am going in life. Tarleton was my first home away from home, and I couldn’t be happier that I chose to come here. To be honest, I chose to visit Tarleton because one of my best friends already went here, but during my Texan Tour, I fell in love with the campus.

Tarleton has given me a work family that I wouldn’t change for the world. For the past two and a half years, I have been working for Student Publications and Student Affairs Marketing and Communications. I started off as a staff writer, but then went on to be the managing and associate editor. This past semester, I moved to be the content communications specialist.

I could not be more grateful to Hilaree Foreman, the previous editor-in-chief of JTAC News, for giving me this job in 2015, and to Caleb Chapman for giving me this new opportunity my last semester. Without this job, I would probably not know what I wanted to do after graduation.

My time at Student Publications has been really fun, and I will really miss having an office full of people that I care about and that make coming to work fun. I love all of out inside jokes (thanks, Ralph), and I love that we can make anything fun, even if that is just putting words on a paper.

Thanks to Student Publications, I have figured out what I want to do with my life. I have built a portfolio that I probably would not have been able to do otherwise. I have learned real-world experience while still in school, and I made connections with people that will last a life-time.

It’s scary thinking about what’s going to happen after graduation, since I will no longer have the same schedule every day of school, work, homework, repeat. I don’t know what I will do with my free time. I don’t know what I will do when I don’t have time in the afternoon to take a nap because one of my classes got canceled.

One of my friends used to always kid that I didn’t even go here, I just worked here because I only went to class and work; I never did any activities on campus. Even though that may have been true, my time was still filled with memories that I wouldn’t change for the world. I met some of my life-long friends here. I learned so much in my communications and English classes. And, I’ll never forget when me and my roommate found a cockroach in our bathroom my first year here.

As sad as I am that my time here at Tarleton is coming to a close, as well as my time in school (unless I decide to get my masters later on), I am excited for whatever waits for me beyond the gates. I’m not sure where I’ll be once I graduate, but I am sure that Tarleton will always be my home.Photo courtesy of Madison White