What do you get out of IVCC?
By Anni Moore
The Last Story
COLUMN, May 5, 2005
When I started writing this column last fall and was looking for a name, someone suggested to call it "where is that?" This is the question I most often hear when I say that I am from Estonia. Now that I'm about to graduate, I realize that I'll be hearing this question all over again. "You are from Estonia, went to school in Oglesby and now live in Tiskilwa - where is that?"
And it's all right with me - I have been answering these questions for eight years, and will gladly do it for the rest of my life. I am proud of where I come from, and will gladly spread the word about these wonderful little places.
Now that I'm about to graduate, I look back to these past two years, and I see how much they have shaped and influenced me, how many treasured memories I have made and how much I have learned. It is true that one doesn't have to go to Harvard to get an excellent education. What one gets out of the college is in the hands of each individual.
One can take the studies seriously - or not. One can acknowledge the need for, and seek help - or not. One can join campus organizations - or not. And one can reach out and touch the lives of others - or not - just as he or she wishes, and that will make the world of difference.
I'd like to think that I have taken my studies seriously enough and received an excellent education. I also acknowledge - with certain satisfaction - that in process of doing so I have been a pain in the rear end for some of my professors. But it is not just the academic education, but the people that have made all the difference.
Being an avid "people watcher' (analogous to "bird watcher") I have spent hours observing and getting to know people around me to. Each one of them comes with a story, and all these stories create a big book of fairy tales that I can read in my mind again and again and never get tired.
People I have interviewed for this column have all been from outside the US. It has been a fascinating experience to write about them. Yet I have found just as extraordinary and fascinating tales from people who have lived in this area for all their lives. And I admire them all.
I admire the single mothers who have decided to come back to school for a better future for both themselves and their children. I admire the people who have been laid off from work, and now have found the opportunity and courage to come back to school and start over again. I admire the young people who are here as their first step on their way of becoming teachers, pharmacists, chiropractors, doctors, nurses, engineers - whatever they feel called to. I admire the professors, most of whom deeply care about us and our future. I admire the staff and the administration that is here just because of us and for us - something we often fail to notice and appreciate. And sometimes lately I have even admired the people in the cafeteria.
There are moments in life that will become precious memories that one will carry with him or her for the rest of the life. I have collected many of these from IVCC. And I want to thank you, each and everyone for that.
And finally I have to admit that I, too, am guilty for frequently asking: "Where is that?" I can never remember the names of all the small towns around here, except for Standard where I got caught speeding.