Senior year. Saying those words out loud sounds wrong somehow. After three, painstakingly long yet short years at Stevens, I still can’t fathom that my time here is almost up. My name is Grace Miguel, and I’m a Software Engineering student. Here’s a little bit about me.
I am an Accelerated Master’s Program (AMP) student, so I will be graduating in Fall 2022 with a master’s degree in Systems Analytics. While I get an extra semester, it’s a blessing and a curse. The upside is that I get more time to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, but the downside is that I get to ruminate in my thoughts of where I go from here stress about getting a job and paying off loans. You know, adulting.
The past year was definitely not what I expected or anticipated. I, along with many of you I’m sure, feel robbed of in-person classes, real labs, socializing with friends and making new ones, going to parties, formals, getting actual help during office hours, and so much more.
I remember exactly when I found out Stevens was transitioning to virtual classes for two weeks. I was outside Babbio after I just finished a run on the waterfront. I thought it would just be two weeks, and then they extended it to a month. Then I thought it would just be another month; then just one semester. After that, I stopped being hopeful and unwillingly accepted that I wouldn’t be on campus for a while. A long while.
For the past three academic years, I’ve commuted to Stevens via train about 45 minutes to an hour each way. Never would I have thought I’d say this, but I missed waking up at 6:30 a.m. and getting on the train with my Yeti tumbler full of coffee alongside the men and women commuting to their city jobs. I liked waking up early despite the fact that I’d probably be staying up until 1 a.m. working on projects, the usual Stevens grind. The dichotomy with pre-COVID life is interesting, because initially, I hated commuting. I felt like I was missing out on so much; it was all work and no play. I rarely attended clubs because the meetings started so late, and meeting people was difficult because my time in Hoboken was spent in class, tackling assignments, and working at the Writing Center. While there were hurdles to meeting people and becoming an active member in the Stevens community, that did not stop me from getting the experience I wanted.
Fast forward three years, I became a Peer Leader, a member of The Stute e-board, joined a sorority where I met incredible friends, explored tons of coffee shops in Hoboken (my goal is to go to all Hoboken coffee shops before I graduate), and learned a lot about what it takes to be an engineer. And now, where everyone else began, I will end. My humble abode for the next two semesters will be Castle Point Hall where I will be a Resident Assistant for the new incoming class. Anything is possible if you try hard enough.
We all know that Stevens is no picnic. You have to work extremely hard to get the outcomes you want whether it’s for academics, athletics, or extracurricular activities. We’ve all had sleepless nights working on ridiculous assignments and banging our heads against the wall wondering how or if this will be useful when we graduate. But more than anything, it forces us to build our tenacity. While some of the professors may not be the best teachers and have a tendency to throw you to the wolves, it forces us to take matters into our own hands and become resourceful. In the moment, we don’t want to spend two hours watching YouTube videos to understand eigenvalues or Fourier series, but by doing that, we’re learning how to learn. That is really what college is all about. Of course, the material covered to earn a degree is important, and thankfully Stevens doesn’t make us take full semesters of irrelevant gen eds. However, the workplace is constantly changing, especially in STEM, so it is crucial that we, as technical folks, have the ability to learn. Many of us will have jobs that don’t even exist yet, so it’s impossible to prepare for that in this moment. The ability to absorb information and continuously learn is our greatest asset.
So yes, I will never use Mechanics of Solids as a software engineer, but I will need to learn new skills at my future job. In the real world, things won’t be handed to us on a silver platter. Life is not linear, and no one will hold our hands and explain to us how to do our jobs; we have to figure it out.
College is the prelude to adult life; it’s the trial and error period. My trial period is almost over, and I’m not quite ready, but I still have time! I can’t wait to spend time with my friends and actually sit in a lecture hall to have real classes. Fingers crossed, we’ll stay on campus this year. Welcome to Senioritis, and stay tuned for more.
Senioritis is an Opinion column written by one or two Stevens student(s) in their last year of study to discuss life experiences during their final year at Stevens, and other related subject matter.
Be First to Comment