“With tears we write this final blog. Outside is dreary, the ground is soggy. The time of sadness draweth near, our faith we place in next year.” Owen Howes, 2019.
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve,”(Declaration of Independence), the knowledge that we are a family without the bonds of blood tying us down keeps us from falling apart. Not only do we have this knowledge, but we also have the knowledge of college, the thinking of the thonking, the I in university, and also the second I in university.
This summer has brought us all closer together, and I do not joke when I say that we have become closer;I leave a piece of my heart here forever. From us here at the UB media team, we are enveloped by a cloak of sadness, enwrapped in a garment of sorrows, and encased in a prison of woe.
Yet we do not wish to wallow in the sadness that comes from the ending of a year, but we wish to look into the past and the future with eyes that are filled with joy. Our memories may be all we have, but we will cherish them like one would cherish a child in ones own arms.
Have we not grown as individuals, as peoples, as almost-adults? Have we not gained knowledge that we can use to shape our futures for the better? Have we not made connections that will last a lifetime, bonds that shall only be broken when Death comes to reap each of us? Yes, we have grown. Yes, we can shape our futures with the power granted to us. Yes, we have built bridges that can never be burned.
With these final, foreboding keystrokes, we do not wish to accept that the summer is over, that we will soon become adults. But, we will gladly accept the lives that we have been given, and we will never forget. Upward Bound is not just a title for a federally funded program designed to target teens and young adults going into college, it is the title of this whole chapter of our lives.