What You Leave Behind

I was reading through the blogs on Critical Writers and Amanda’s blog post caught my attention; in her post she discussed the senior class and how they are leaving soon. That got me thinking about the seniors in my life; the only seniors that I know are the ones on my Cross Country and Track teams and they have made a huge impression on my life. I have learned so much from them and have gotten advice, support, encouragement from them. They do so many things for the team such as, help freshman register for classes, host team pasta parties, encourage an inclusive and accepting environment, open their houses up to people going through difficult times, and so much more.

Amanda’s post and thinking about the senior class furthermore reminded of the quote “the only thing you take with you when your gone is what you leave behind.” This quote is a bit scary, but I find it to be very true. While yes, our grades are important and we should put school first, when the seniors, and all of us, graduate what I personally think will matter most is whether we made some difference, in the school or the lives of others. Geneseo’s Mission Statement and GLOBE both urge the importance of experience outside of solely academic domains; “Broad and Specialized Knowledge” specifically desires students to “investigate domains beyond their professional interests.” This urges students to become involved in extracurricular activities and try to make an impact on the school and other people. The impact that seniors have left on my life, and the lives of countless others, is what they will leave behind here.

Having the upperclassmen in my life is one example of a partnership in a college community. Geneseo’s Learning Outcome “Leadership and Collaboration,” likewise, urges students to “engage others” and develop “collaborative solutions.” When students work with others, they can generate new ideas from people with experiences and opinions different from their own. From associating with and learning from people with more experience than I, I have learned a lot more than I ever would have alone. Furthermore, working with others as part of a team enables us all to go further than we could alone. The other part of our class, “risks and rewards,” I also connected to the partnerships with upperclassmen. By having these relationships with seniors, we risk the sadness associated when they are gone; however, the reward is the memories and experience we’ve had with them. I can confidentially say that the rewards outweigh the risks in this situation. The upperclassmen on my team have taught me about the person that I want to be; I have realized that my most important goal here at Geneseo is to impact other people, specifically younger teammates in years to come, the way that this senior class has impacted me.

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