What I will miss most about PR is the teacher-student connection. A lot of teachers at PR make the effort to genuinely connect with students and talk about their interests and goals. It adds so much to the class when there are goofy dynamics and inside jokes, and I feel I might not get as much of that in college.

I hope to be remembered as just a smiley guy. I think it can be really easy to fall into a negative mindset where the tribulations of school can feel a lot tougher than they really are; I tried to always flip any given inconvenience into a positive and spread that to the people around me. There’s never not a reason to smile about something, and I can’t help but to share that with the folks around me.

I hope I can continue to explore myself as a person. Dorming down in ISU will really be my leaving-the-nest moment. I think a lot of us could use a fresh start and dive into a world outside our (as Mr. Wads might say) little Crystal Lake bubble.