I spent a couple days thinking about ‘my final say’ in the paper, thinking of all the many experiences I’ve had in my three and a half years on the SLU Women’s Soccer team, The Lion’s Roar and as a student on this campus. The best advice I can give is to push your limits, to test yourself and to embrace the challenges that are in front of you. 

Luckily, the people around me taught me some very important lessons leading up to this advice I had to give. My soccer sisters taught me how to be both strong and caring, my newspaper staff taught me how to embrace my differences and to speak up and Southeastern taught me how to harness what I have and shape it into my future. 

These past years have been some of the best years I’ve had, and I will always use the lessons I’ve learned here, which leads me back to the statement I made before. As a beginning freshman, I was shy and timid, not really knowing myself or what I was capable of. I was the bookworm, the soccer girl and that was pretty much it. I was well content with staying in my designated stereotypes. It wasn’t until I started my sophomore year I wanted to do something different, something I’ve never done before: apply for The Lion’s Roar. In that same year, I also raised the bar further, taking on 18 hours and joining a couple of clubs. This happened all during soccer season on top of it. For the first time, I really challenged myself. I dared myself to do something completely out of my comfort zone, and I learned very quickly, despite all my self-doubt, that I could actually do it. Since that day, I decided to keep pushing myself, to keep testing my limits and see just how high I could get, from getting an A in a tough class, to passing a rigorous fitness test, to trying to study physics on a bus for an away game with “Transformers” playing in the background, the last one was a lot harder than it seems. 

In the end, I realized I came far in my college career and learned and experienced so much here, much more than I ever would have if I remained the timid freshman I was. 

So, this is what I have to say to you: take risks while you are here, plan to not only take on but conquer the challenges you face, because the lessons you learn here both about yourself and the others around you, you will keep forever.