By Lexie V. Owen | Echo
A survey recently conducted by The Echo revealed the general attitude of seniors when it comes to graduation.
Jordyn Henson, who will leave Taylor with a B.S. in exercise science, is reconsidering her original post-commencement plans. Instead of pursuing a job right away, she has decided to take education classes online. She is among 67.7 percent of those surveyed who said they were graduating with mixed feelings.
"It's somewhat sad and uncertain, but also exciting," Henson said. "I've been so blessed by my experience at Taylor. I'm confident God has even better things in store after school."
In eight days, the class of 2013 will say goodbye to Taylor and pursue the goals they've been working toward. Most will begin careers, get married or start graduate school. For others, the future remains unclear.
Forty-eight percent of responders said they plan to work and live away from home. Graduate school is the next step for 19.7 percent of surveyed seniors and 12.6 percent are unsure what they will do.
Ali Dearborn plans to attend graduate school. She will leave Taylor with a B.A. in psychology and begin pursuing a masters in counseling degree from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, where she knows she will be pushed to develop and mature.
"Graduating is bittersweet, to say the least," Dearborn said. "My four years here are unmatched and completely shaping to who I am. I am ready to have completed a degree and move onto the next step, but leaving will be hard."
For underclassman, it can just as difficult to say goodbye to seniors. Alec Davis, though in the peer group of the seniors, is only a junior by credits and is finding the thought of the approaching commencement difficult to cope with."Some of those guys I came in with as a freshman are getting ready to leave," Davis said. "It's pretty tough. My closest friends are the guys I was friends with my freshman year."
41.7 percent of surveyed seniors said they would look back on their Taylor experience with fondness and miss it greatly while 52.8 percent said they enjoyed it, but are ready to move on.
For some seniors, moving on means beginning life with a spouse. Steve Wilson will receive a wedding ring 18 days after he receives his diploma. He and his wife will move to San Diego for his internship and then to Michigan in the fall where he will begin his doctoral program.
"We've been ready to be married for a little while, but we also wanted to both finish our school," Wilson said. "Since I knew I was going to be doing something for the summer in between Taylor and grad school, it's nice to have that out of the way with the beginning of the summer."
Wilson claims Taylor's Christian Marriage class gave him sound advice for matrimony and his computer science courses provided him with the knowledge he would need for grad school.
A majority of students, 51.2 percent, said Taylor has left them well prepared for life after college.
"Taylor has prepared me because I took the opportunity to let it prepare me," Dearborn said. "Taylor is what you make it."
