Refreshing. Holistic. Progress.
Seniors Angela Loh, Madi Turpin and Lindsey Metzger share advice as they reflect on their experiences at Taylor.
Thinking back on your time at Taylor, what lessons or main lesson would you take away from it?
Angela: “I think the biggest lesson is to not set too much of a high expectation on what the year entails.”
Madi: “Know your limits. I love to be engaged in everything, but I just can’t overcommit.”
How have you been able to grow closer to God?
Madi: “Taylor offers all these unique opportunities and how we can worship as a body. I really love multicultural worship, whenever there’s other cultures that are brought into worship because that’s just a true reflection of heaven.”
Lindsey: “College was very much a time of finding my identity in Christ, and I didn’t do that alone.”
Favorite Taylor tradition?
Angela: “I would have to say communion at the beginning of the year. Just the whole student body, faculty and staff are gathered in one space and being able to share a moment with each other, but also spend time in prayer and worship.”
Lindsey: “Silent Night. I’m not a sports person, but Silent Night is one of my favorites.”
Is there anything that you will unexpectedly miss about Taylor?
Angela: “I think I’m gonna miss the quirkiness and the weirdness of Taylor. I feel like Taylor is a weird place we have, like a weird good place … in a couple of months, I’m gonna be like, oh, my goodness, I’ve missed that.”
Madi: “The community aspect as a whole is taken for granted; like, we joke about intentional community, but there’s not a lot of places in the world where you can go into any building on campus and recognize at least one person.”
If you had the chance to talk to your freshman self, what would you say to her?
Angela: “Don’t be hard on yourself. You’re gonna be able to make it through no matter what.”
Madi: “I thought everybody was always watching me, so I had to be the best version of myself, and you don’t because a lot of people here are very open about brokenness and differences and that makes this place such a home.”
Lindsey: “It gets better.”
How can you maintain the friendships you created after graduation?
Angela: “The biggest thing is prayer. Something that I’m planning on doing is writing one of my friend’s names down on my calendar, and that’s the day I pray for them … I’m a huge fan of writing letters and receiving letters.”
Madi: “Knowing where everybody’s going and then following up on them, knowing realistically you won’t be seeing them every day.”
Lindsey: “With the Professional Writing Department, we make it pretty easy because we have so many group chats, and social media makes it pretty easy to stay connected.”
What activities or events do you recommend Taylor students do before they graduate?
Angela: “Definitely go to Dirty Dan’s.”
Lindsey: “Do Airband once if you can. Go on a road trip with some of your friends because you learn a lot about people when you spend a week with them in a car. Do stuff where you get to know people on a personal level.”
Any advice for underclassmen?
Angela: “Senior year is hard in so many ways … you’re trying to figure out a lot, but in the midst of all that, allow yourself to accept and receive grace. I think another (piece of) advice I would give is (that) everyone can have their own definition of what it looks like to finish college well.”
Madi: “Don’t overcommit. Set your boundaries. Your likelihood of marrying someone does not drop when you graduate.”
Lindsey: “Be careful not to spread yourself too thin because that’s easy to do, and don’t take life too seriously.”
