So Long and Thanks for All the Papers, Exams, Quizzes, Assignments . . . ad nauseum (or: Ode to Hillsdale College)

This is it, one of my last two days as a student at Hillsdale College. Tomorrow, I shall walk across that vast stage with thousands of people staring at me. I will be wearing a long black gown and a silly looking square cap. I will shake hands with Dr. Arnn (an awesome teacher and good person). He will hand me an empty diploma cover as professional photographers snap a photo which I will never see. But you can bet they will drag that photo out when I get to be president, man.

Then there will be closure. I could just leave now, I could just walk away from this place, but that would mean, no closure. I would feel like I still belonged here. And I really do not want that. So, in retrospect, I would like to dedicate this post to my beloved alma mater, and may many more students grace its walkways and struggle for endless, sleepless nights within its halls until they too graduate and realize that life on the outside is just as high pressure as life on the inside.

This is for the papers, the tests and the exams
This is for the long, long days hidden away in my room
Typing or studying, trying to cram my brain with info
The last minute hours that became my life in Hillsdale

This is for the rain that embraced us with a passion
It is an awesome territory with beauty beyond compare
But weather equals crazy in the place I chose to be
And weather kept me studying for the lack of else to do

This is for the students, my friends and mostly my fiance
They made the journey worth it every time I made them laugh
Without them for the moments when homework turned insane
I surely would have short circuited before a year had passed

This is for my profs, the ones I could not stand
But mostly for the ones that gave their all to teach me
I learned more from them than dry, ancient information
I learned how to live my life and how to be a statesman

This is for the experiences I could not have found elsewhere
My teacher Mickey Craig, the student of Harry Jaffa
My internship with Istook, my hero in the House
My job with the debate team, all the kids I got to know

This is for the words that echo in my soul
Things have been heard and read in every class and book
The principles I take to weave through years to come
This is for my Hillsdale, I'll miss you, yeah it's true

And this is how I feel on the day before I go
Sad, wistful, and silent as I have ever been
Yet joyful in the knowledge that I finally made it through
With a heart so full of memories and a head so fit for life.