Fun With Founders

Hello friends.  As I write this, I am trying to process the fact that today was my last day of classes.  Ever.  (Except for that little thing called graduate school, which will hopefully come eventually).  Anyway, I can't quite wrap my head around it.  As much as I am excited to be done with work (I unfortunately have a lot to do in the next few days), I seem to keep forgetting that once my work is done, so is my time at Saint Mike's.  
If you told me on move-in day of my first year here that I would be sad, nervous, terrified even, to leave when it was time for me to graduate, I probably wouldn't have believed you.  I remember the day well, and even though I knew I would eventually come to love SMC, adjusting to life here definitely took some time for me (being the homebody that I was).  I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again: Saint Mike's is truly my second home.  I can't imagine my life without SMC and the people I've met here.

As I wrote about in my last post, I've done a lot during my time here.  However, something I don't talk about as often is how much I've loved being a tour guide and blogger for the Founders Society.  This semester, I've given a tour every Monday morning.  I'll admit that sometimes I wish I had the extra time to get some work done, but after each tour I give, I am reminded just how much I love sharing my SMC experiences with prospective students.  Yesterday, I had a new tour guide shadow me and it was such fun to see her enthusiasm right from the start.  It made me realize how much I'll miss giving tours next year.

As for blogging, I can't talk about it without mentioning my lovely friend Alex.  As an incoming student, I read Alex's blog regularly to get a glimpse into what life was really like at Saint Mike's.  She seemed so cool, and I was so excited when I finally got to meet her. :) She was my go-to person whenever I had any questions about something SMC related.  I was even able to ask her questions about what psych classes to take, since she was a psych major too.  In addition to all this, she was the person who inspired me to begin blogging, and I'm so happy I did.  Not only have I been able to connect with prospective students, I now have a way to look back on the highlights of my SMC career.  So thank you Alex! :)

Alex and me at a Parachute/Plain White T's concert at Higher Ground

This past Monday was my last Founders Society meeting (Monday was my last tour as well.  Still can't believe it!).  I had a wonderful time celebrating the year's accomplishments and eating dinner from Moe's.  While I am so proud of all the work everyone in Founders has done this year, I am especially proud of the girls I live with (yeah I know I'm biased).  As a house (TH214), we were given the Founders Society MVP award.  We allowed prospective students to tour our home many times this year (special shout out to Caitlin for doing a wonderful job welcoming everyone).  We are all tour guides, and three of us are bloggers.  It is a widely known fact that everyone in my house loves cheese, so we were given this wonderful cheese basket:

We are still working out the details of who gets what.  Don't worry, we'll figure it out. :)

Alex, me, Lauren, Caitlin

To end (is it really the end already?), I want to thank everyone who has supported me along this journey.  I will genuinely miss being a student ambassador, but I am confident that the students who will be returning to Founders next year will do a fantastic job :)

Peace, love, SMC.
~Merrill