Sydney Syverson and the Salzbergers (Photo submitted by Sydney Syverson)
By All submissions from UP seniors, Guest Commentary -- The Beacon
The thing I will miss most about college is spending time with my Salzburgers. To people who are not Salzburgers we often come across as an exclusive, frightening clique, and I won't deny that there is some truth to this. My reply to this so-often-heard critique is this: We spent nine months together in a foreign country. We took every class together and traveled with each other every weekend. We spent three weeks straight in a bus together for crying out loud! We have seen each other at our ultimate best and our embarrassing worst. They will forever be my 39 best friends ... and that's just the way it is ... so get over it!
-Sydney Syverson
This tiny house on Yale Street was my home for the past two years. The Cottage was a place where laughs were always present and where love and true friendship existed. It was not just a house to me, but a place for friends to meet up, where Rocky Horror lived on and where I made my closest friends here at UP. When I think of my time in college, I will always look back to this house and to the extraordinary women with whom I lived.
-Roya Ghorbani-Elizeh
Empowering Community
This past school year, I have had the privilege of serving as ASUP vice president. While in this role, I have learned so much about the student body, the professors, the administration, the strategic planning process for our University's future and the RISE campaign. Yet none of this will define my four years on The Bluff. What will is what I have been taught about service and leadership.
UP ranks high in the number of students that go on to the Peace Corps, Teach for America, PACE, the Jesuit Volunteer Corp and Americorp. This is a testament to the ethic and can-do attitude UP has instilled in us. I think every student would agree with me when I say UP is generating the future's leaders.
What I have learned through student government is how well a community functions when all of its members are accounted for and involved in the democratic process, and the goodness that comes with collaboration, consensus building and different points of view. This has proved a community functions best when there are leaders to push for change, ignite this process and generate a healthy debate.
For instance, freshman year we debated the student conduct policy, sophomore year we were engrossed in a debate over a "green fund" to meet sustainability goals, junior year we debated a campus-wide smoking ban and this year we were immersed in the cost and benefits of Resolution 11-03. It should not matter so much whether these issues passed or failed, but what should be the focal point is that we had these discussions with one another, about our university, about what we wanted to see happen. All because someone thought this was a good idea and, like any healthy democracy, we argued.
This is what I will remember about UP. Not the debates or which argument I agreed with, but how leadership is about empowerment. Empowering a community to make decisions together, to thoughtfully analyze all the options, compromise if necessary and make decisions that benefitthe most people. The world needs leaders and we will all be there to answer that call, but a leader can only accomplish so much on his or her own. We need to remember what UP taught us and lead not for ourselves, but to empower and mobilize our community.
-Katie Scally
Shea (Chappel) and I were in Rajisthan on a Post-Salzburg trip visiting family friends. It was an epic adventure in and of itself to obtain a tourist visa to India as American citizens living in Austria and we were so excited to fulfill our lifelong goal of riding a camel.
-Erika O'Sullivan
It didn't really hit me that I was graduating so soon until after I passed my big nursing exam on Monday, April 11. The exam is required for all senior nursing students to pass in order to graduate. I know many people who have been counting the days until graduation, but I was not one of them.
Reflecting on my time at UP, I remember how homesick I was for three years. I said many times that I was leaving and moving home. I put up walls around me, which ultimately kept me from moving forward. Slowly I moved ahead, especially around junior year.
That was the year I really made an effort and discovered how much indeed I had changed in college. Going on the Encounter with Christ retreat really opened my entire self to discover what I was supposed to be doing at UP. I knew at the end of that year that I had great supportive friends, something for which I'd been looking for a long time.
In my experience, it takes time getting used to things but I think that some level of comfort will always come. I believe the University of Portland has something to offer every student who comes here.
That something may not come immediately, as it did not for me, but everyone will find a new "family." I'm definitely going to miss mine but I know I will find another one just as loving in the future days and years ahead.
-Danielle Sheehy
When I daydream, I picture myself in a sailboat out at sea with my love and my Pilot hat! How sweet it is! This year has been filled with changes, trials and accomplishments. I am proud to say that for the past four years UP has been my home and will continue to be my home as I journey forth through mysterious years. The community of people and the campus is always filled with so much beauty and wisdom, and that will carry on with me. And now that we're out of here, I'd rather be back on my sailboat with that degree on the sails. Hello, world!
-Gaona Yang
Senior nursing students Katie Yochim, Erin Malmgren, Cassie Lee, Lyndsey Arnoldy, Julia Marsh and Lauren Kamitsuka take a break from studying to enjoy the snow at Mt. Hood.
-Julia Marsh
All About the People
Recently, it has come to my attention that I will be graduating from this lovely institution I call home. As is usually the case, it is difficult to fathom that four years have whizzed past, leaving me with this fancy sheet of paper, legitimizing and summarizing four years of blood, sweat, 30-page Bib Trad papers, soccer games, late night excursions to Taco Bell, basketball games, laughs, hall sports and more. It is impossible to begin to enumerate all that I have learned and gained from this experience at UP. Yes, I majored in French studies and decided to throw in minors in music and political science, but college is much more than that. In the last few weeks, I have realized how incredible our university is. Aside from all the academic resources at our disposal, there is something much greater that enriches my life every day: the people of UP. I am going to miss everyone who makes UP my home. All of my professors who have taken the time to get to know me and guide me through my studies; all the staff who love coming to their job and chatting with students. Most of all, I will miss the students, my friends. I will miss being around all the knowledge and passion you bring to this campus as well as the intelligent, trusting, welcoming and loving community that is created with you here. Thank you UP, and thank you to each and every one of you students.
-Jenny Gresham
Getting our "study" on, as usual.
-Gwen Swift
Senior Renata Fusso and junior Rosemary Peters "riding" the back to school bus in Shipstad Hall last year.
-Renata Fusso
One of my favorite memories from UP is the entire year I spent abroad. Not only did I get to travel all over Europe, but I got to live in Salzburg, one of the most beautiful cities w ith a fantastic group of 40 friends. They will always have a place in my heart (and team Poland was definitely better at capture the flag). :)
-Aundréa Roberts
Leading Outdoor Pursuits trips for UP students will be something I will miss the most. This photo at the summit of Mount Adams in Washington epitomizes the great times I shared with hundreds of people who went on trips with me the past four years. I really have them to thank for making these adventures some of my best memories at UP.
We weathered freezing rain, camped under two feet of snow at Mount Hood, waded into bone-chilling water in Oneonta Gorge, ran into the Pacific Ocean in February, hiked to Tunnel Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, backpacked to Paradise Park on Mount Hood and the list continues.
Reflecting on these trips makes me want to relive all the great times I was fortunate to share with so many awesome people.
Summit of Mount Adams in Washington
Front Row: Galen McVey
Back Row (Left to right): Evan Mackall ‘14, Jacob Lampe ‘12, Aaron Morris ‘12, Max Lyon ‘14, Gabe Martin ‘13, Nathan Banet ‘11, and Jayme Schroeder ‘11
-Nathan Banet
