A sappy, I’ll miss Virginia Tech post

I wasn’t going to do this. I wasn’t going to join the masses. Talk about how college is coming to an end and what everything has meant to me. But I have a few minutes before my final class ever begins, so why not?

I’m not going to start at the beginning, though. I’m going to start with today. In just under an hour, I’m going to sit down at this desk:

Here, it’s hidden behind people. Those people are 21 of the best in the world. I got to be in a Video Studio Production class with them this semester. I walked in the room and already had a few good friends, but for most of the others, the apple that hung around their necks was the only way I knew their names. Before class started, I was so grateful to have Nolan in there. He’s been a great friend who I can bond with over sports, but more importantly through Bible study. Working with him in this class and in the Athletic Department was incredible.

After 15 weeks, 3 separate show formats and countless productions, these 21 people became a crew. I’ve never had a class like this where I’ve developed such amazing friendships with every single person in there. We had a homework assignment to watch the Oscars and look for things. We turned it into a party, and all of us packed into a living room to watch. That pretty much sums it up.

On top of that, my favorite professor on the Virginia Tech campus led us through the whole semester. Derley has been amazing since my first day of Visual Media with her back in August 2012. She made our class fun, but she made us learn more than I could have ever imagined. Without Derley, I would have never considered working in television. It’s so difficult to describe the relationship Derley has with her students. She’s one of those rare professors that actually makes you want to be in class. When she sits in the newsroom and is working alongside us, it’s easy to strike up a conversation and joke about things as silly as her fictitious rap alter-ego.

Add Paul. Paul is our studio engineer. He’s hilarious and supportive and the best engineer I could have imagined. We come in to class and ask him how to fix things. He does it no problem and then talks with us about life. He’s the greatest. That’s all there is to it.

When I sit down at that desk, I’m going to be sitting down next to someone who was a stranger in January. But enter the Comm life. My co-anchor for today’s production has become a great friend over the past semester. Amanda is one of the kindest, most fun-loving people I know. Add in her roommate, Emma, and they’re a force to be reckoned with. I love that they’re a crew. They’re a packaged deal, and one without the other just feels wrong. Individually they’re great. Together, they’re my favorite pair.

At some point, we’ll toss the show over to Reza. There’s only one cliche way to describe Reza. He’s just Reza. Again, another stranger at the beginning of the year, he’s become an incredible friend. Always with a smile on his face, this guy is such a goof with an incredible heart to be himself no matter what. When he makes it big in LA, remember where you heard about him first. In this ridiculous picture thanks to the green screen.

And today, the weather will be read to us by Megan. Megan came into my life in the fall of 2012. She worked in athletic communications with me, and we talked probably two or three times. Then we had a class together and became only slightly less awkward. Fast-forward to this past fall. I couldn’t tell you the real reason this happened, but Megan has become one of my closest friends in the world. We spend hours together during the week, yet still get together after class. I can go to Megan with anything, and she’ll always be supportive. She’s made this past year more fun than any before. N.C. State is going to treat this girl well. It’s really hard to quickly describe what Megan has meant to me. She knows how important she is to me, and that’s most important.

I wish I could write about each individual person that I’ve become close with this semester, but that would turn into a short memoir, and nobody’s got time for that. Like Stephanie. A friend of a friend at first has become such a blast to spend time with. Wes, Nate, Ben, Tori, Danielle, Willie, Caroline. Add all of them in, too. That just scratches the surface, but I wanted to give them a shoutout. All of these people have brought something different to my life. They bring their own personality and blend together to make an amazing group that I love spending every second with.

After class, I’ll head home. Today is Avery’s birthday. It’s a perfect way to wrap up college. My roommates. They’re not into the whole blogging, sappy posts, emotional stuff, so we’ll keep it quick. I moved into 317 Graves with Avery, Brian, JM and Seth at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year. It couldn’t have been a better group. We’ve done countless things from hunting squirrels (and cooking them for dinner) to Friday morning Bible study. Living under one roof with a bunch of guys who love Christ and support each other has been the best community I could ever ask for. I love each one of these guys. Avery’s the most absurd and ridiculously crazy person I’ve ever met, but I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone who loves like he does when it comes down to it. Brian just loves life. He’s insanely busy with architecture life, but he always finds time to come home and hang. When we have serious life things to talk about, he always listens and offers advice whenever he can. JM was mostly “Anna’s boyfriend” when we met him. He agreed to live with us when he was only that, but we had no idea. This guy is fantastic to do life with. That’s what I love about JM. He just does life with you. Real life. If you ask him what’s going on with something, he’ll be open and honest. When you talk to him, he listens and is concerned. You can tell that when something matters to you, it matters to him. Finally, Seth. Seth had no idea what he was getting into when he transferred here. He came here barely knowing us, but has jumped in head first. This kid is an incredibly hard-worker, but it’s hard for him to turn down a round of golf. The golf course is a great place where the two of us have been able to become even closer as we’ve dived into life happening around and to us.

Avery’s birthday dinner will see some of my favorite people too. “The Palmer girls” have been amazing friends since freshman year. Anna, Morgan, Erin, Christie, Lauren and Kristina. This is another group that comes as a package. Individually, I love all of these girls. Weddings for two of them this summer are going to be the best reunions for us! From tailgates to fires to Palmer house dance parties to Floyd to the garage sale a few weekends ago, I have countless college memories with all of these ladies, and I could not be more grateful for them in my life.

Then comes our neighbors. At this point, this post is insanely long. For that, I will not apologize! Anyways, neighbors.

When moving in, we barely knew any of the 8 girls who lived in the duplex next door. Courtney, Melissa, Carlee, Kristen and Gretchen have seen all sides of 317. They’ve come and hung out for fires, watched football with us, seen JM, Avery and I eat 22 gumballs each and always welcomed us into their home. Knock on the door, and we were always welcomed in to hang, eat food and talk about life with whoever was home.

The next door over was a wasteland for a while. Four random girls I didn’t really know lived there. That wouldn’t last long. Spring semester 2013. Enter Blair and Paige. Without diving in to how this relationship developed, these two have been amazing. Paige wasn’t really about the 317 life for a while, but she made her way over and has become an amazing friend. Our relationship is summed up in one phrase. The therapy chair. It’s a pink, round chair in Paige’s room that I post up in to talk with Paige about life. We cover it all, and she’s always there for me.

And of course, Blair. What can be said about this girl? She’s been there every second for me. She’s an incredible friend who cares about me and the people in her life so deeply. We can sing “Love is an Open Door” better than anyone out there, and “Royals” can’t be played without me thinking of her singing along in the passenger seat. We were lucky enough to have classes together and then come home and “play” fires, Cookout runs, DX runs, movies and life together. Once again, as brief as I try to keep these things about friends, it’s tough to sum them up in just a few sentences. They all know what they mean to me, I hope.

Blair and Paige apparently had another roommate who lived in the basement, too. I didn’t quite believe them for a long time because I had never seen Haley in my life until this year.

Haley has gone from stranger to one of my best friends in less than a year. Almost every day I get a text from her. “Wanna binge?” Of course this means, “Wanna binge watch HIMYM?” and the answer is almost always yes. Because binging with Haley is only sometimes watching HIMYM. It’s mostly conversations, that turn deep. She’s that friend who when I’m upset asks “Do you want me to tell you it’s going to be ok, or do you want me to just be mad?” I tell her and she does both roles so well. I love our conversations about life, but I love more that we almost always come back to the Bible. We go on drives with worship music turned up all the way. She’ll ask me “What do you think this means?”, and my mind then explodes trying to wrestle with what God thinks about that or means in that particular verse of the Bible. Yet again, I’m struggling to sum these people up so quickly.

1,767 words later, I want to make sure I mention only a few more people. Michael was my Bible study leader freshman year and then turned into my discipleship and this year an incredible friend. Thursday lunch at the Cellar with him and Avery and sometimes Mikey have been an awesome tradition. Chase that with wine tasting at the Vintage Cellar and Thursdays were great days. Michael has a great heart for God, and I love when he challenges me with how I should handle situations and deep theological questions. A trip to Typhoon with Michael brought Mikey into my life, too. Mikey’s an awesome dude who comes and plays blow dart gun darts and hangs with us, but is such a wise person when we get to the deep stuff.

Last but certainly not least. Rachel. I try to describe Rachel to others and the only way is my “boss”. The quotes are very important. Rachel is technically my boss, but she’s turned into a great friend. This fall, I was having a rough time with a lot of changes and uncertainty in my life. Rachel baked and baked and baked until I felt better, and listened and listened until I had no more words to say. We worked events on events together, but she always made sure to listen and be a friend, too. Hockey extravaganzas at Sharkey’s and Hokie House were a fantastic way to round out and sum up our year as we rooted on the Pens and Kings and talked about sports info things and life as a whole. I can’t begin to explain how much Rachel’s friendship has meant to me both in and out of the office.

This was about 1,400 words longer than expected, but I guess this is my way of dealing with the end of this chapter. College is coming to a close, and I wanted to share a small snippet of who’s been important to me. There are countless other people that I haven’t mentioned here, but please don’t think you’ve been forgotten. I’m thankful for every person at Tech that I’ve gotten to know.

So when I hop up on that anchor desk, I’ll end this chapter of my life. But I’m trusting that the best is yet to come. Stay tuned for the summer trip of a lifetime.