I was sitting at the desk in my bedroom when I submitted my last assignment to OnQ. There weren鈥檛 any tasseled hats or champagne flutes or emotional speeches. There weren鈥檛 even any witnesses. Yet within a few clicks, I had essentially graduated, fulfilling the final requirement for my Master of Arts in English.
With convocation still months away, it felt both satisfying and anticlimactic to finish like this. In the weeks following my submission, I kept reminding myself that I wasn鈥檛 quite done. Although I鈥檇 finished my coursework, I still had a few lose ends to tie up. I spent the month of July working as a research assistant, contributing to the blog, and serving as an editor for the fourteenth edition of , an international literary journal open to all graduate students. But as I write this blog in early August, I realize I鈥檓 officially tying up my last loose end.
Since I submitted that last assignment I鈥檝e moved away from Kingston, secured a new job, and generally moved on to the next phase in my life. But as I sit here writing these words, I鈥檓 grateful to be a part of the graduate community in this last small way. Graduate studies have offered me new ways to read, write, and generally think through the world that I鈥檓 in. They have brought me new friends, different perspectives, and more contentment than I could have imagined.
So, while I鈥檓 looking forward to convocation and to all the excitement that it brings, I鈥檓 grateful to have this space to celebrate this milestone, too. Graduate studies can often be long and arduous, but there is great joy in celebrating the many milestones that come with them. For me, this blog is one of them. To all our readers, thank you. I couldn鈥檛 think of a better send off.