Mike Foster, Opinion Editor
Like many Kennesaw State University students, I grew up just on the outskirts of campus. I can’t speak for everyone else, but being an Owl was not a part of my post-high school plans.
Now, being an Owl is a reflection of my growth. It’s a watermark on everything that I’ll do from this point on.
I’ll never forget my first day of classes. I had just left tiny Reinhardt College in Waleska, Ga., a place I thought was more preferable for me—small, almost like a summer camp with classrooms. Coming to KSU via bus, I remember walking along the sidewalk toward the Social Sciences building, staring into the centipede line of cars trying to enter the west deck, and thinking, “This reminds me a lot like mornings in high school.”
My outlook at that time was to move from a school I couldn’t afford to a school close to home until I could work up the resume to transfer to Athens. Afterall, I grew up in a household with three University of Georgia graduates.
Boy, I’m glad that plan failed.
Through my own imperfections, I had to go with Plan C, which was, “Heck. Stay at KSU.”
I now walk around the campus buildings wishing it wasn’t all coming to an end. After spending four amazing years as an Owl, I can claim with all of my heart that the little commuter school nestled in the shadow of Kennesaw Mountain has become the center of my universe, and will be for the rest of my life.
My education at KSU transcends my degree. In fact, it will make that slip of paper moot in a wake of valuable experiences, friendships, and opportunities that are priceless in the commons of my soul (Yes, let that be a Commons pun if you wish).
Despite being at one of the most rapidly growing schools in the country, I’ve always felt like a useful part of the institution. Professors would still call me out for being a slack. I can’t thank them enough for that. I have been lucky enough to grow my journalism career from a humble staff writer position I began with The Sentinel three and a half years ago. From there, I got to live my dream of running a sports section for a school newspaper—and while those around the country may not pay attention, for me it was all about having those clips so that one day, when KSU moves on to even bigger and better things, I can point to a few humble stories hanging in my office and say, “I was a part of that beginning.”
It has, certainly, felt like that. When I started here you saw more UGA and Georgia Tech sweaters than anything else. Now, you stick out like a sore thumb if you’re not wearing black or gold. A few years ago, saying “I go to KSU” meant you didn’t want to leave home after high school, or your grades sucked.
Now we have football players committing here because they simply cannot get over how amazing our campus is, and I concur.
I’ve felt a part of something; a part of the growth of KSU from a small, commuter college into a true destination school. But, most importantly, I know for a fact that my education through experience with great teachers and the school newspaper couldn’t have been made better anywhere else. It was a perfect fit.
The KSU that I applied to in 2010 was one I was almost not even interesting in stepping foot on. I never took a campus tour.
The KSU I’m leaving in a month is one that I hope I can continue to be a part of for the rest of my life. No matter who you are and what you do, there is a place for you at KSU. Find it. Keep searching until you find it. And give everything you’ve got to this place.
You are in control of your own college experience. This campus will become as great as the attitudes of the individuals within it. Be that great attitude.
Thank you to those who’ve endured my bantering on my radio show, The Benchwarmers. Thank you to my adviser and capstone professor Joshua Azriel for holding me to the quality of my work. Thank you Ed Bonza for making KSU Student Media an incredible family of ambitious minds. Thank you to everyone in Student Media who has not only been a great co-worker, but an even better friend.
If you’re reading this right now, you have taken the time to pick up our student newspaper. For that, I thank you the most.
You are all what makes me proud to be an Owl.
P.S.
Beat Mercer. Always and forever.
