College: The First Attempt

 Yesterday, I found myself at home and at " loose ends" with way too much time on my hands. Bored, and thinking about my first attempt at college long ago, I dug out some old yearbooks{ are yearbooks even a thing nowadays?}  from West Liberty State College & posted some fun photos of my gang from the English department  during the years 1994-97. One of our former professors had just died, and thinking about her took me down a pleasant walk on Memory Lane. 

Those first three years at West Liberty State College { now known as West Liberty University} were formative for me. It wasn't until I got away from the hellish restraints of high school that I met my own friend, and started to grow into the person I've always been.  High  school was hellish for me--- although I played sports & participated in chorus & other activities, I really did not enjoy a social life. In spite of my status as an athlete, other girls bullied me while most boys ignored me. I did not attend either prom. No one asked me to go, and I was way too bashful to even entertain the idea of asking out my crush. In the Dark ages of 1994, groups of students without dates absolutely did not attend dances alone or with same-gender friends-- I am grateful that today's dateless young people have that option. 

Anyway, bottom line is-- I HATED high school.  I could not wait to get away from people who had known me as " shy , mousy Sarah" and start to live my life on my own terms.  At West Liberty I found not one but TWO groups of friends-- people on whom this day still make me smile or cry with their Facebook posts. Social media, for all its many pitfalls, has brought my motley crew of English majors  & my " Lunch Bunch"  friends together. 

In the twenty-five years since I first set foot on the beautiful mountaintop campus, I have changed a lot. However, I see in myself bits & pieces of the Sarah who started to thrive during my first three years of college. As I continue to live and grow, the spirited Sarah whom my Pensacola people know thanks my West Liberty crews for loving me into being. 

Part of my soul will always be connected to the Hilltop. 

~Sarah