Like in 2013, May 19 this year falls on a Sunday, and the alignment of the days of the week in both years helps bring me more in tune with that momentous day in my life.
And not only was that day, but all the memorable experiences leading up to it, especially in the first few months of 2013, including my trips to Austin and St. Augustine, and then those days leading immediately up to graduation, with lots of celebration and pageantry, like being inducted into the Spanish honor society Sigma Delta Pi, and the prestigious scholastic honorary society Phi Beta Kappa. I also ate lots of good food at many meals, particularly with various groups, like the meteorology majors and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
Being in tune with those days upon the occasion of this anniversary gives me much to reflect on, especially as I consider the continued connection and impact of my ValpU days, even 6 years later.
I have close relationships that have persisted through all that time. I regularly get together over the phone with some of my closest friends, and we're able to keep up with what's going on in our lives, thanks to Roy, who is always eager to keep together, a sign of the deep friendship we've shared in our group.
I've also had reason to be back in Valparaiso thanks to my continuing friendship with the Ruggabers, which hasn't let up in the 6 years. I was very blessed to be at their Golden Wedding Anniversary celebration last summer together with their family and close friends.
And going to World Youth Day with a group from the Diocese of Gary helped me feel a sense of connectedness with ValpU: One person in the group was someone I knew during my freshman year, and there were a few people in the group who attend St. Teresa's, including a current ValpU student. It was especially nice getting to know her because all the people I knew as students during my time there have since graduated, and it's good to connect with current students whenever I can.
My time at ValpU was extraordinary for many reasons. And in the years since, I keep having more extraordinary experiences that build on top of one another. One experience tops another, and they keep coming, especially as I think about my faith life.
I feel that my time at ValpU helped open me up to be poised for great experiences to come, especially as I glory in how God continues working marvels in my life, as I reflect on the great resurgence of faith I experienced during my time at ValpU. Our faith teaches us to be always open to how God is at work. Even if we don't fully understand His ways, we can live in breathless wonder that something amazing is bound to happen when we open ourselves up to Him.
I came back from World Youth Day regarding it as the best experience yet of my life, and I emphasize "yet" because I'm sure God will do something even more amazing, and there's no way I can really even fully conceptualize what that might be. It was really something to reflect on that when I went on a trip over an extended weekend this past March to visit St. Augustine. It's incredible to think how that place, hundreds of miles to the west of Chicagoland, added so profoundly to my ValpU experience as a whole. (It's also notable that while there back in March, I visited with a ValpU friend who works there as a TV meteorologist.)
Usually, we associate a sense of wonder with the typical child, who constantly asks questions as while wondering about everything. Yet even at my age, I still find myself with a sense of wonder, and I find myself easily stimulated to learn more about something, as happened all throughout this weekend while visiting museums in Washington, D.C. Certainly, having spent time studying meteorology has allowed me to continue a sense of wonder about the weather, enhanced by a greater understanding of what happens in the atmosphere above us.
But I get easily fascinated and started wondering about a variety of subjects, which I feel makes the library and information science field a good fit for me, because it was going to the Maze Library that kickstarted my penchant for learning about various subjects.
Aligning with the same principles of my work as a librarian, it has also been such a good fit to teach Religious Education. Although I didn't go into it with much professional teacher training, I have become so good at it, and I revel so greatly in the opportunity to teach and hand on the faith, coming back year after year.
Indeed, I was so greatly inspired in faith during my college years, especially in the time I spent at St. Teresa's. Father Kevin McCarthy certainly had a profound influence on my life, and many others. One thing he taught us at St. Teresa's is how to Party Hard with Jesus Christ, a routine that is a rub-off of his days as a cheerleading coach.
That "party" routine speaks to the sense of how I came to embrace faith as something to celebrate, and it has driven me to do my part to inspire my students in Religious Education class. I teach them how to Party Hard with Jesus Christ. But beyond just getting them excited in class, I hope that in my work of handing on the faith to them, they will embrace it and, most of all, live it out.
I think back to how the remarks made at the Baccalaureate Service and the Graduation Ceremony on Sunday, May 19, 2013, had a common theme of inspiring us to go forth with what we gained from our time at ValpU to do good in the world.
On this 6-year anniversary, I have much to celebrate as I reflect on the opportunities that have come my way, greater than the one before, and how I've been able to accomplish so much, inspired by my experiences at ValpU to pass it on in service to others.
Here are links to read the blog posts on my graduation, and my reflections for One Year, Two Years, Three Years, Four Years, and Five Years.
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