Love was certainly in the air when I visited Ohio University on Valentine's Day in 2020. OU was the only school I had applied to at that point, and as sappy as it sounds, I knew it was the school for me as soon as I took a step on the bricks of Athens.
Now, as four years have come and gone, I’ve come to know that 18-year-old me would be astounded by all of the experiences I’ve gathered and withstood at OU. Upon reflection of my years as an undergrad, it’s fascinating to see how much a person can change, especially for the better.
Attending OU in the fall of 2020, I became the epitome of the COVID student, as my entire freshman year was spent at home and online. I didn’t have in-person classes but instead had to master the art of Zoom calls at 8 a.m. I missed out on a lot of those traditional freshman experiences that you can’t ever make up, but I still conquered as a spry first-gen student.
But then, during sophomore year, I suffered the loss of a friend and had to deal with my grief purely on my own as a full-time student. It was a deep hole to be stuck in, going through a heavy period of isolation and reassessment. Meanwhile, I kept digging myself deeper as I skipped classes and performed below the bare minimum.
Eventually, I pried my way out of the deep end by turning my loss into motivation. I began using writing as a way to cope with my bereavement. Whether it was just a short journal entry or an article for The Post, writing became the consolation I needed to propel myself out of my rut. With it, came an expanding passion to take any opportunity I could to become a better writer.
It’s amazing to see how much my writing has evolved over the years and how it continues to do so. My growing maturity allowed me to easily thread words together and paint an engaging picture for others to read. Along with it was the maturation of my distinct voice, which is profoundly one of the hardest discoveries to come across as a writer.
My evolution continued further thanks to the incredible faculty that pushed me beyond limits I didn’t know were reachable. Now, through hardships and hard grading, my skin has toughened to withstand any amount of criticism to come my way in the future.
Through it all, I consistently ponder how my driven passion goes back to my friend who passed. Without a doubt, I know that he would want me to continue my drive so that I can become the best writer I possibly can be.
While this may be the end of my undergraduate years, this isn’t the end of my time at OU. Moving forward, I will be going into OU’s English master’s program next year, with a focus on creative writing: nonfiction. I was beyond thrilled to reach this achievement, especially as a first-gen student and as a writer with a “the sky's the limit” attitude. As grateful as I am, I see it as an incredible indicator of my hardships and hard work paying off.
I do have to say farewell to the exciting work I’ve done for The Post, writing articles I am exceptionally passionate about, which also helped me get accepted into the master’s program. Joining The Post in the second half of freshman year felt like a daunting move, but it has since become the best decision I could have made in my undergraduate years. The Post remained a consistent force in my life, a place I could always rely on to help me evolve my writing even further.
With how far I’ve gotten within the past few years, I cannot wait to see where the next two years at OU will take me. Those four years in undergrad were not easy, and I can expect to face hardships in graduate school as well. But if there is anything to take away from the many undergrad hardships, it’s that times of desperation should be used to propel aspiration.
Logan Humphrey is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect that of The Post. Want to talk to Logan about her column? Tweet her at @Loganhumphrey_ or email her at lh129720@ohio.edu.
