A Time of Change
As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but look back on my time at UJ as time of change. If you told me three years ago that I would be writing a Sir Jimmie blog sitting, on the couch next to my new wife, I would have laughed right in your face.
Freshman Grant was a totally different guy.
I came here to play football and live up the college life as much as I could, while still passing my classes. It was during that freshmen football camp that I met some of the greatest friends of my life.
Nate, Jake, and Taco, as well as Danny, Logan, and Nick later on, made that freshman year fun. I could sit here and write page after page about the boys, but I won’t bore you with all of the details. If you really wanna know, just find me and ask me.
Combining football and band
Now, I should say that UJ was always in my mind because my grandparents went here and met here. When I was offered a football scholarship, I knew that this was the place for me. Coaches and faculty let me play football and play in the band, which honestly was the deal-maker for me.
After a semester, I joined choir and found a great little niche group in the Knight Society. All of this while, taking at least 20 credits made for a very busy Grant. But, it is during the great times of chaos that you reach the greatest moments of clarity.
Just relax
The key to managing it all is to do what Aaron Rodgers said best: just relax. It’s the same advice I give to freshmen every year, and it is a philosophy that I stand by.
The college experience, at least for me, is all about change. Changing roommates. Changing majors. Changing interests. Everything will change. While you can’t always be ready for change, you can always be flexible. Unfortunately, flexibility doesn’t show up as early as you think, so be patient.
Change that I’ve experienced
I can sit here and tell you there is a whole lot of change that I’ve been through. I started every football game for my three years here, but now I am a full-time band geek. I went from not even thinking about marriage to being married right before graduating.
Quite a few of my friends are gone from here due to transferring or graduating. Heck, even my concentration got cut my sophomore year. Yet, most of the change has come within myself. I am WAY more mature than the dumb jock that stepped into Kroeze for the first time.
So, to summarize it all, college is a really weird time.
It is the only place where you get a couple hundred of us young adults (heck, I’d say kids when we first got here) thrown into the deep end. Endless tests, concerts, labs, and parties make life hectic. The key is to find the good small things and just relax once in a while.
If you’ve made it this far into the blog I’d like to give you a few tips from an old man about to graduate in two weeks:
- You are never too busy to try something new or to do something fun.
- While the best studying happens right before the test, the absolute best thing you can do for yourself is get a good night sleep and a have a full belly going in.
- Go see what clubs or groups are out there. (Like Knights Society!!) They’re full of some great friends.
- Lastly, just relax. Go do something fun that you like. Take a nap. Schedule some video game time. Yell at the dumb people on House Hunters. Seriously, just check your brain out. You’ll thank me.
So, this blog goes out to my parents, Jana, the boys, the football coaches – old and new, the entire music department and students, the boys in Knights Society, Mort, and you.
