The month of April has been so hectic, more so than I can ever remember. As it has barely been two months since my 22nd birthday so much has changed in the past fews weeks. It is 3 weeks until my college graduation and the emotion is already setting in as I am finally coming to the realization that after graduation I may never see many of the people that I have grown accustomed to ever again. All of the memories that I've made over the past 4 years are still firmly planted in my mind. I have had so many good times and experiences in college and it is going to be very difficult for me to leave and let all of that go. I never could have dreamed after the childhood that I had that I would grow up into the person that I am today.
These past 4 years have been the best times of my life and I will never forget UC Merced and the amazing people that I met here. I learned so much about who I am, what I'm capable of, and what I can do if I put my mind to something. This year particularly, with its ups and downs has still been an amazing year. Senior year in college. What a milestone. It's still so hard to believe that 4 years ago I was an 18 year old boy from Portsmouth, VA fresh off the plane. I was so different, so young, so naive. Hanging out with the freshman today is like looking into the mirror. That was me four years ago. It's crazy so think about where I've been and where I am now. I am really going to miss my friends. This is going to be one of the saddest three weeks of my life. Every event is a memory. I wonder what it's going to be like to come back to campus as an alumni. It's so hard to envision what UC Merced will look like in 5 or 10 years. I know that I won't even recognize the campus.
I just wish I could spend these last three weeks with my friends hanging out and not stressing about final assignments, papers, exams, and my thesis. Ugh! And I still have to work on a speech and figure out what I'm going to wear. It's just so much to do and so little time to do it. Not to mention dealing with family stuff and of course planning the graduation trip to Disneyland and LA. It sucks that we won't get to go back East to my cousin's medical school graduation but I guess it wasn't meant to be. At least I'll get to be here for grad week. I'm so excited for Michelle Obama's visit to campus and speech. I can't wait to see what she's wearing and hear what she has to say. I know it's going to be amazing. She is so inspirational!
I'm really excited about my summer internship in the District Attorney's office. I have a feeling I am going to be working my butt off and I can't wait. I hope I get a good financial aid package or I'm going to have get a part-time job to help pay for my summer living expenses. I wonder what I'm going to do when UC Sac ends because the program lets out in mid-August and grad school doesn't start up until late -September so either I could stay in Sac or head down to LA and try to find a part-time job on campus or just chill in the OC on the beach. I know after graduation I'm prolly going to hang around in Merced for a few weeks and work on campus in the Visitor Center and try to save up some money before I head to Sac for the summer.
I guess 3 weeks from graduation I am feeling a lot of different emotions. Sadness. Hopefulness. Anxiousness. Excitement. I know the ABC conference and graduation week is going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to get my college ring, necklace, African stole, diploma, and degree. Then it will all feel real. 4 years of college. I am officially a college graduate. I am educated. Wow! Thank you mom and dad so much for giving me the tools I needed to succeed in life. What an amazing experience. I will really miss my underclassmen friends. I hope they can live up to the high standards that the Inaugural Class of 2009 set. We really raised the bar for our campus. I will definitely be coming back to visit the campus in the fall or either in the Spring of 2010. I wonder what ASUCM and AASA and MPLS and Prodigy will look like in a few years. Wow! So much to think about. So much change.
I still can't believe that I'm going to UCLA in the fall to start grad school. I'm so excited about my master's program in Afro-American studies. I know that I am going to learn so much about my culture, heritage, history, and self. It is really going to make me not only a better person, but a more marketable person, especially in law and politics. I still kinda wish I was doing a joint law program or just law school though. But I know I need more time to study for the LSAT and work on my resume if I plan to get into Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Cal, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, U Penn, Northwestern, Georgetown, UCLA, USC, Irvine, GWU, Emory, Hastings, Davis, San Diego, Santa Clara, UOP, and Howard. Hopefully, since my master's program is interdepartmental, I can take some law and public policy classes.
My hope is that in 5 years, after I finish law school and my master's I will be a scholar in race, law, and public policy issues and in a position to build a successful career in the private and public sector. I definitely know that I want to write, work on policy issues, practice law for several years, and eventually become a partner in a major law firm. After that the sky is the limit. Start my own firm. Publish my first national best seller. Run for Mayor of Los Angeles or Senator or Assemblymember in the State Legislature. Governor. And one day maybe run for president. There is so much that want to do with my life. I know J tells me all the time that it's great to have life goals but I need to focus on what I need to do today to get there. And that starts with me finishing my undergraduate degree requirements, sending in my background check application to the DA's office, contacting my student loans, and studying for the Law School Admissions Test. My goal is to get a 173. So I have a lot of work to do to get my score up a little more.
I can't wait to move down to LA in the fall. I'll be closer to my family, my love, and my heart. I was born to live in LA. I love that city so much. It's such an amazing place. Every time I go home for the weekend it's so hard to leave. The beautiful beaches. Malls. Restaurants. Nightlife. People. Culture. It's so much going on and it's so amazing and enchanting. I am so blessed. God has really been good to me. And my job is to make sure that I don't disappoint him. Too much that is. Time to get to work. Until next time,
RKNJ
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