Here I sit, with the same level of uncertainty and nervousness as I had four years ago on the first day of college. It’s remarkable how the feelings can rush memories back to the forefront of your mind.
Like many of you, some of these memories are good and some are bad. Some helped shape who I am and some told me who I wasn’t. But isn’t that what college is for?
Never before did I ever think that I would find who I truly was in the town of Turlock, CA. Born in Boston and an east coast guy through and through, the plan wasn’t for me to fit in on the west coast. The plan was always to go to college in Boston and go back to “my people.” The funny thing in life is that those who aren’t your people, can be your people and lucky for me, it happened.
The one difference from that point four years ago and now is the people I wasn’t supposed to fit in with are now my friends forever, helping me through this challenge called life as I help them.
After graduation, Turlock will be in the past but the memories will always be present.
The memories of meeting a lifelong friend for the first time and of clapping in class for no specific reason to finding out what you really wanted to do in life. The late nights and the dreaded thought of the drive back home to Manteca. The hard tests and the joy of an all-too-rare cancelled class. These are just some of the memories I will always have thanks to Stanislaus.
What is the common thread in all the memories, other than of course counting the days until graduation? It is the people with me in the memories that make me cherish my time here at Stanislaus and at  The Signal the most.
Sometimes in the moment, they can seem like the best of times and the worst of times, but when you look back, they were all great because of the people I spent every second with.
I was one of the lucky few who got to meet a great group of friends here at Stanislaus. Old friends and new, I owe the world to Stanislaus for what it has given me and how it has prepared me for the next step in life.
So this is where I say goodbye Turlock, goodbye Stanislaus and goodbye to The Signal but I also give you thanks. Thank you for the friends I have made, the people I have met and the good times I have had. Please be as gracious to future students as you were to me during the best four years of my life.