ADA, Okla. – East Central University is a deeply special place to me. What I would like to express is not just what makes ECU special as a student, but why I am grateful for being accepted into the ECU community.

I did not start my college career here at ECU. I am originally from Ada, but when I thought about where I wanted to go for college, I was not thrilled about the opportunity of staying here in my hometown for the next four years. So, I ended up at a private college in Iowa, looking for a more adventurous college experience than I had assumed I would find at a place like ECU.

After a semester in Iowa, I came to the conclusion that many young people come to: life does not always work out like you think it will. I was overwhelmed being far from home and surrounded by people who came from prep schools in the Midwest or Northeast. And, of course, I would have had to take out an intimidating amount in loans to stay for another semester. So, when it came time to make a change and transfer somewhere else, there was really only one place to come back to.

In the Spring of 2023, I enrolled in classes here at ECU. As soon as I came on campus – a place I was familiar with, having grown up here – I felt relieved, and even more importantly, welcomed. Even though I had treated the idea of going to college less than a mile from where I went to high school as a “downer,” and even though I had originally walked away from being accepted to ECU, I was welcomed back. I was a part of the Honors program from that Spring semester onwards, and I met so many great people that way. And even though I had not been there during the Fall semester, I was still treated as part of the group.

It is hard to believe that my first semester here was five semesters ago. Time has passed very quickly, and looking back on everything I have been able to do, I am immensely grateful for having been accepted into the ECU community. I have been able to take amazing classes, meet great people who will be lifelong friends, participate in research both in the lab and in literature, have the opportunity to travel to UCLA to talk about research work, and fly to Washington, D.C. with the Russian Club to find cultural connections. And despite it all, I have precisely zero dollars of college debt.

More than any achievements or any milestones, I have been able to be a part of a big and amazing community. I have worked with great professors like Dr. April Nesbit in Biology, Dr. Ken Hada in English, Dr. Mara Sukholutskaya in Languages, and Dr. Steve Benton in the Honors Program.

I have met great friends like Zachariah Hobia, and I have been a part of great organizations like the Honors Program, Russian Club, Tri-Beta (the Biology Club), and the Creative Writing Club.

I would not trade away the friendships and collaborations I have made here for anything. I am grateful for ECU because not only was I accepted here from the very start, but I was able to find everything – and everyone – I needed to thrive.

-ECU-