The following is a first-person account from Olivia Fleming, who will graduate Saturday, May 17, summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English.

It is said that memory is like water. Sometimes it is frozen and unchanging, other times it rages, and large waves pull you in. Or it becomes calm and allows you to wade through it, picking and choosing which memories to examine.

My memories have lately felt more like a stream that constantly flows toward me.

As we finish finals week, my last finals week at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, I become submerged in reflections of my experience here. Memories bubble to the surface of my brain and demand that I sit with them, that I notice how much I have done and learned in these four years.

Now that I am near graduation, I recognize how the college experience ushers us into the next steps of our life. In it, we develop into better, more experienced, versions of ourselves. College urges us to decide who we want to become through its many challenges that force us to face our individual ability and strength as we begin to shape our future.

While attending UW-Superior, I fell in love with the English program. I dedicated myself to it and it in turn shaped me for this budding future. The environment here assured me that I had made the right decision and could pursue my passion amidst a thriving intellectual community. I was provided every opportunity to develop my skills and learn everything I needed to know in order to be successful.

I’m grateful for the chance I had to study with an engaged and supportive staff who were willing to assist me in any endeavor. As I started writing for the University Marketing and Communications Department, I had the chance to meet professors and staff from outside my discipline and found the same unwavering enthusiasm in them.

Campus life has been equally rewarding. I bring myself back to my freshman year when I was doing everything for the first time. I recall events that I started going to then and have gone to every year since: mug painting, bingo, finals week feeding frenzy, career fairs and the famous build-a-buddy event. That year, I ate too many quesadillas from Sono and spent an absurd amount of meal points at Caribou.

I will miss my ability to be involved in our campus activities. Joining clubs, doing undergraduate research, and playing intramural sports became a major source of pride. But as I leave these things behind, I do not lose an ounce of joy and excitement. Instead, they become companions to new emotions of nostalgia and gratitude.

Lately, I have begun to realize it is the small corners of campus that I will miss the most. I will miss my study spots: the corner of Swenson Hall, the high-tops in the Yellowjacket Union and the section of the library near the stained-glass windows. I will miss the feeling of walking to campus, of sitting on the lawn when it is warm – and of my entire routine that I have developed while attending UWS.

However, I offer only one perspective of university life, and I have seen the many forms that this experience can take. I have had the ability to watch my peers thrive in every context. I see the success of our student-athletes, actors, musicians, researchers and campus leaders. Every graduating senior you see is a reflection of a unique experience shaped by individual goals and passions.

For those of you fortunate enough to have more time here at UWS, I encourage you to get involved. I urge you to take in everything that this campus can offer and to discover your unique experience of our university. College life is what you make it, and UW-Superior aims to make that life memorable.

For my fellow graduates, I urge you to reflect on your experience here and the ways in which you have changed. I congratulate you and am proud to be graduating amongst such an impressive and vibrant class.

Thank you to everyone at the university who contributes to student success, you have created an unforgettable undergraduate experience.

By Olivia Fleming, English major and student writer for UWS.