Kalyn Mullens

So…where do we go from here? Four years of relationships, procrastinated assignments, club meetings, and after-school practices are over. Four years of trying to navigate ourselves, preparing for this moment – the beginning of something far bigger than you or me. I know many of us are feeling a wave of emotions. Our excitement pushes out, allowing us to reach for the freedom we have been yearning for year after year. But our fear pulls us back in, worrying us about the unknown that lies beyond the shore. 

Do not let what you cannot predict limit you as you move on to your next journey. Allow yourself to explore, to win, and to lose. These moments have made us who we are now, and they will continue to mold us into who we will become next. 

Take this time to celebrate yourself. Show gratitude towards your tenacity. You have been through many things, good and bad, so honor them. 

As we step out of the end and into the beginning, I challenge us to let our curiosity guide us. I challenge us to explore WHAT we do not know, and WHO we do not know deeply and intently. I challenge us to listen to ourselves. As the author Ralph Ellison said, “All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too…It took me a long time…to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.”

You have the power and the responsibility to make moves for yourself and your village. You do not need the validation of others to label your decisions as right and wrong. Have trust in yourself. You have already come so far for you not to.