It was all set. I had everything ready to go. I may have been a “super-senior,” but I had no plans to move on to being an “ultra-senior.” Those kinds of powers could have easily corrupted me, and with great power comes great responsibility. The problem is, the longer I’m here at NKU, the less responsibility I would like to have. But as it turns out, I’m going to have to gather my last round of responsibility for one more semester.

I’m a double major in philosophy and electronic media & broadcasting with a minor in journalism. I can’t say that it has been a burden trying to balance three different programs (and two completely unrelated majors) because I genuinely love everything that I’ve been a part of.

One stroke of good fortune has also been the fact that the longer I’ve been at school, the more involved I’ve become. Starting out as a freshman commuter student who showed up to class and went home immediately afterward, I’ve become fully involved in every aspect of my potential career to the point that I practically live at Griffin Hall (I even slept here overnight once).

So, for anyone familiar with the requirements for the EMB program within the College of Informatics, it’s definitely not a short list. The philosophy program, on the other hand, could literally be completed within two semesters. It requires only 30 credit hours total and only four upper-level advanced courses.

It seemed as though I was a shoo-in to be done with this mind-bending major in no time. So while I completed my requirements for audio and video courses as well as most of news writing classes, I was able to get done with a majority of my philosophy work.

It all came down to the last relay of this crazy race we call “higher education.” I could see it now – not only would I be able to produce media like a boss, I could see Socrates himself running down that graduation aisle, stone tablet in hand with my name etched in it, ready to send me into the bright, beautiful future of the adult “real world.”

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Socrates’ homeland pulled a fast one on me. The NKU philosophy coordinators typically offer an advanced “Plato & Socrates” course in the spring to supplement the usual “Greek & Medieval” philosophy course in the fall. But this time around, the lovely folks of the philosophy department tried something a little bit different.

It was announced that the program was planning on actually going to Greece for their usual Greek philosophy course. This was a wonderful idea; there’s nothing better than immersing yourself in an international educational experience where you’ll literally get to experience thousands of years of ancient history. When I say wonderful, I mean wonderful for anyone who isn’t me!

Because the department was putting all of their attention into this “study abroad” course, they didn’t make any arrangements to offer the Plato & Socrates course. So I was stuck – I didn’t have the dough to float a trip to Greece and I really didn’t want to have to come back for another semester to take just one class. Socrates, why have you forsaken me!?

So, here I am… preparing for the summer but knowing that I’ll be coming back for that last little baby semester. It happens to the best of us, I suppose, but I still can’t believe it happened to me.

But… I’m going to try my damnedest to turn a negative into a positive. If I’m going to be here one last semester, I’ll work my hardest at both of my campus jobs and even try to get into a training course to take the Graduate Record Examination.  While I’m at it, I’ll even try to get my LinkedIn page put up and send out some resumes to potential employers.

Basically, I’m going to try to make this last semester not be completely awful. Even though a handful of my friends will be leaving me after graduation (yet again), I’ll just have to make do with what I have. In the end, we really don’t have any control over the cards we’re dealt, but I’m going to play this two of diamonds the best way I can. For this last semester, I’m all in!