I was surrounded by people who spoke like they knew exactly what they wanted out of life, while I was still figuring out what I wanted from mine. I was overwhelmed at the thought of how small I felt in a world so big. I remember feeling as though I didn’t belong; that I had made the wrong decision to attend FPU.
“Who am I called to be?”
It’s a question I constantly ask myself, especially then. Without a support system on campus, processing these experiences made my skin crawl with anxiety and loneliness.
Today, I find fulfillment in everything I am involved in at the university and in the community I have found among friends and faculty. Besides working as a student assistant to the social work department, I am a graphic designer, journalist and layout editor for FPU’s student media, The Syrinx, and FPU’s creative literary journal, The Green Light. I have been a member of FPU’s Zeta Chapter of the National Honor Society Alpha Chi, serving as president of the society this 2025-2026 academic year.
As graduation nears, it’s bittersweet to be leaving the life I’ve built as an undergraduate. Regardless, it is thanks to this community that I’ve grown as an individual and feel more capable and ready to confront the future and revisit the question:
“Who am I called to be?”
I don’t know for sure. I wonder if I ever will. However, I now better understand that I find purpose in serving others through community.
If there is anything I’ve taken from my experience at FPU, it is best put by Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Congratulations to all the graduates in the program this year, and cheers to the students still working towards their goals. I encourage all to continue seeking; in time you will find what you desire.
