Master your life

Samantha Strub
Class of 2013

(6/2013) It happened. It actually happened. I graduated from college. I’m now a college graduate. I completed four years of college and attained a Bachelor’s degree. I did it! I achieved my goal of completing my undergraduate studies.

It was nerve-wracking and exhilarating to walk across the stage, get my diploma and shake the President’s hand. I was so concerned with falling or making a fool out of myself that I believe I did not enjoy the moment as much as I should of. I do remember feeling on top of the world, like nothing could hold me back. I had accomplished the goal I at one time thought was impossible. I had mastered the impossible. I made it possible.

I was thinking of mastering the impossible because that was what Archbishop Lori, the Archbishop of Baltimore, told us in his Commencement speech. His words to the graduating Class of 2013 were, "Mastering the moment is mastering one’s life." He told us that the key to mastering your life is to live it. If we live in the moment, the moment becomes ours. That is truly living and living with a purpose. Archbishop Lori wants us to have our "thoughts become actions, and actions become habits." The thoughts and actions we make become our habits. These habits are made into our identity. That identity has been formed by the experiences, studies, and people we have encountered that have made an impact on our lives.

If we master our lives we will be changing the lives of others. We will be helping others and making the world around us a better place. The Class of 2013 will be following through with our vocations if we are utilizing our talents to make the world a better place. That is the vision that President Powell has in mind for each member of the Class of 2013. Ironically, that is the vision that I had for myself.

The Class of 2013 came with the goal of attaining our degrees, making memories, and leaving our mark on the Mount. The main goal for each one of us was to attain a degree; some of us were not quite sure what that would be and some of us couldn’t wait to get started. We came to be a part of Mount St. Mary’s University that was grounded in faith, discovery, leadership and community. We came to be college students and figure out what we wanted to do with our lives. We came to change the Mount and the world. We came to make memories.

The Class of 2013 has achieved all of our goals. We have seen our beloved university grow so much over the past four years. We have developed from strangers to members of a group with their own individual talents. We have improved ourselves and the Mount community through our time at the Mount. The Class of 2013 has made lasting impressions on and changes to the Mount. We have risen to the challenge that our class president, Alexandria Proffitt, saw on a note posted on a bulletin board saying, "Leave the Mount better than you found it." This note inspired her to make a lasting difference on the Mount community. Though I had never seen this note, I too made it my goal to leave my mark on the Mount. Maybe my mark wouldn’t be a building named after me, but instead, it would be the opportunities presented to me and the people I encountered.

I have tried to make the Mount a better place through the opportunities that have been presented to me. Right from the start of freshmen year I become involved with the Mount community through work study in the Education Department, Freshman Ambassador, Club Field Hockey, and the Emmitsburg News-Journal. I jumped at the chance to share my love of the Mount with future students and to the Emmitsburg community at-large. I was particularly excited to write for the Emmitsburg News-Journal because I had always dreamed of becoming published. I would be sharing the development of my college years with the world. Needless to say, I was beyond excited to share my story for the next four years.

I continued to stay involved in field hockey through my years at the Mount. It was wonderful to create a bond with those girls, play the sport I love, and release stress. Staying with the team throughout all four years has been a wonderful blessing to me. Sophomore year I joined the Presidential Mount Ambassadors. I loved sharing my experiences with prospective families. My goal was to make each one of them feel at home and see my passion for my beloved university. I wanted to get them the real experience of the welcoming community the Mount has to offer. I wanted to make a difference in their lives, no matter how small it may be.

Junior year activities continued with my work study, field hockey, Mount Ambassadors and the Emmitsburg News-Journal, but I wanted to make more of a difference. I was able to do that through my internships with my students and by working with The Arc of Frederick. I worked as a skills educator and job coach for people with learning and cognitive disabilities. I was able to make a lasting difference in their lives by assisting them in their needs. Teaching and working with the Arc was very rewarding and uplifting for me. I was making a difference!

All of my activities continued into senior year. I was making a difference in the lives of my students that I encountered in teaching, my clients with The Arc, and my readers with the newspaper. My efforts were affecting people’s lives; this was all I really wanted to accomplish. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of the people I encountered at the Mount and the community at-large.

It is still hard to believe that the events in my life that I was writing about (often centered around teaching) would interest the community. I had wonderful comments on my articles throughout my years of writing for the Emmitsburg News-Journal. It is a great treasure for me to have my college years documented from my viewpoint at the time. I will treasure the articles themselves and the responses that I got from them.

The reality of graduation has set in now that I’m back home in Wisconsin. I cannot help but think about Dr. Seuss’ famous words, "Don’t smile because it’s over; smile because it happened." The past four years of college have flown by. They have been the time of my life, filled with countless memories. It is time to smile fondly at the memories and move on to the next chapter of my life. As college graduates, we are now looking to change the world, to make a difference in the lives of the people we encounter. The Mount has given us wonderful lessons in assisting the people we have encountered. Now it is time to for us to take those lessons and master our lives!

Read past editions of Samantha Strub's Four Years at the Mount