By Hannah Schaefer | Echo
Most students graduate in the spring of their senior year after four years of hard work. Some even struggle to fit in all their classes by then and end up enrolling for a fifth year.
Graduating early is an entirely different monster, but Debby Fowler, Jill McCuiston, Estee Wells and Lillian Stoltzfus relish the journey. The four roommates are graduating this December from Taylor to begin their career search in the spring.
Three of the girls met their freshman year on the third floor of Bergwall Hall. Debby, Estee and Jill all lived with each other for at least a semester throughout their first three years. Stoltzfus transferred to Taylor her sophomore year. Come senior year, they opted to live together one last semester. They recently discovered many advantages to graduating early.
"It saves so much money," McCuiston said. "College is great, but you get to start your life after college almost a whole five months earlier."
"Not to mention we all have a really bad case of senioritis," Stoltzfus added with a laugh. "I can't imagine having a whole semester of classes still ahead."
Each girl has different plans for her time off. Fowler, an art education major, is not technically graduating early. After finishing her courses this semester, she will begin her new life as a married woman in the spring while finishing her student teaching.
McCuiston, a business major, hopes to secure a career, not just a job.
"I don't want to do the stereotypical 'move back home and live with your parents' thing. I want to find my life career," McCuiston said.
Wells, a professional writing major, wants to begin working immediately, preferably in a job as an editor. In doing so, she hopes to avoid freelancing for a period like some other professional writing graduates. Stoltzfus, a psychology major, is looking for a job and beginning graduate school next fall.
Five or 10 years down the road, however, the girls have much bigger plans.
"I'd like to work in various nonprofits and see how they run and how to get donors effectively," McCuiston said. "Then I'd like to start one that helps in the local community, like a local soup kitchen."
"I'd like to teach art to students age high school and up," Fowler said. "Kids are great, but I'd like to be able to have a mentoring relationship with the older students."
Graduating early has its benefits, but also its struggles. The girls have found that graduating early can be a lonely path. Sometimes they feel disconnected from their graduating class since they are a semester ahead of everyone else.
"Time management can be a struggle," Wells said. "You're still in the full swing of classes; it hasn't really died down. On top of that, you're also trying to apply for jobs."
"Also, a lot of businesses don't hire in January for budget reasons," Fowler said. "I guess you miss out on events and stuff that is sentimental, and it's kind of hard with friends because they don't realize you're going to be gone next semester. But we're not necessarily the type that is super sentimental. We love Taylor; I just don't regret not doing certain things. I'm ready to move on."
Wells agreed about feeling done. "I feel like we saw Taylor as a means to get that career, to complete that major," she said. "I think we wanted to do Taylor well, but our eyesight has always kind of been fixed on the horizon."
In May 2014, the four roommates will set aside their newly developed lives and return to campus to participate in the graduation ceremony with their classmates.
