I have this habit of sitting in my car until the very last minute before walking into class. I don’t know what it is, but my Spotify playlists, seat warmers, and solitude never feel as great as it does until I have to soon abandon it in exchange for plastic chairs and overhead lighting *insert dramatically sad violin song*. Hopefully I’m not the only one out there commiserating about this routine. After scrambling to grab my backpack out of my backseat at 12:57 or 9:26 or something along those lines, I finally depart from my cozy little Elantra.
Something great about my major is that all of my classes are in Bib Graves- the very center of UNA’s campus, stationed parallel from the fountain. THE fountain. If you’re a UNA student, you know how treasured the fountain is. If you’re not, now you know how treasured the fountain is.
Majestic, right? As I begin to walk to class, UNA’s Alma Mater starts playing in the background from a really big bell tower that’s too far away for me to see. It’s interesting because I have no idea where the sound is coming from. The tune of our Alma Mater is so undeniably beautiful yet at the same time, anxiety-provoking. It pays homage to our incredible university and causes me to pause and consider the longstanding tradition of the university I’ve been so privileged to attend, yet at the same time, it’s also a reminder for me to start running to class so I won’t be late since it signals the new hour. I couldn’t help but to ponder the paradox of this. That this tune can make me sentimental and proud and rushed and breathless all at once. With all of this in mind, this paradox brought me to a correlation.
That same feeling of pride and angst reappears when thinking about graduation, right? No matter our classification, graduation is still a huge notion to reflect on. It is exciting to live in this moment as a student at UNA, but our clock is ticking. We have to start power walking instead of strolling. Running instead of power walking. The signal that our time at UNA is coming to an end is out of no where and often unidentifiable, awakening our oblivion. But how beautiful it is that we as students are so weaved and connected to our university in this way. And how incredible it is that something so brief and man-made has the power to subtly relate to and even symbolize the many students that are hectically reaching for something unique and great while gently hearing its tune in the background.
Haley Gilbertson 