When I think about Bradley as a whole, I’ll be honest, I don’t often think of the good. I think about that distinct smell when I walk out the door. I think of all the long treks I had to face walking from my apartment to class on windy, wintery days. I think about the stress of finishing assignments on top of assignments on top of assignments.
But most importantly, I think about the person I used to be.
I started my college career at Bradley with high hopes of making unforgettable memories, which were crushed over the course of my freshman year. I spent most of my first year here isolated in my room with maybe one or two friends. To sum it up, it was an essentially meaningless year of my life.
Except, it wasn’t.
Every time after my freshman year when I thought of letting my anxiety keep me from meeting new people or joining an organization or club, I remembered how much it absolutely sucked to be alone, and I would do the thing I needed to do.
This eventually led me to The Scout at the beginning of my junior year.
I don’t mean to be a cheese ball, and anyone at The Scout who knows me knows I’m not particularly nice, but The Scout has been the source of my best days here.
I thought I’d never find a place to fit in on campus, but the people at The Scout welcomed me with open arms, then immediately drowned me in memes and overused jokes.
When I mulled over different things to write about for this column, I considered talking about the future, talking about my depression, talking about my advice to people younger than me – but none of that matters.
What matters to me is people. More importantly, the people at The Scout.
From the late nights praying to leave the office at a somewhat reasonable time (we don’t) to the reasons why we’re staying late in the first place (Vine compilations), even the boring days at The Scout are memorable.
At this point, I can’t even list specific people there who have impacted me because almost everyone has in some way.
There are days where coming into the office seems like the hardest thing in the world, and those are the days I have to slowly coax myself to be there. But every time I walk in, any anxiety I have melts away, and I’m able to ease back into myself with the people who know me best on campus.
This column is starting to get a bit too lovey dovey for me, and it was mostly to get everyone to cry, so I hope it did its job.
But to wrap this whole thing up, joining The Scout has been my best college decision, and I couldn’t forget my time here with these wonderful people even if I wanted to.
