Yesterday afternoon I graduated Cum Laude from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Arts in Language and Linguistics and European Cultural Studies. I put a whole lot of work into the past four years, and I am happy to say that they have been the happiest four years of my life. I experienced many setbacks over my time at Brandeis. I suffered from personal injuries both physical and mental. Members of my family died or got sick. I failed classes and friendships fell apart.

Yet I had a thriving support system to carry me through, and I learned just as much if not more from the community at Brandeis as I did from my classes. I’ve been taught and mentored by professors who are as brilliant as they are kind, and the faculty, staff and student alike made Brandeis a true home for me. I’ve found people here who have helped me to find myself, a self who knows what she wants, and because of Brandeis knows how to get it. I am confident that the lasting bonds I have made will continue to carry me forward.

This is the last paragraph of my college admissions letter:

I haven’t had as many opportunities as some of my peers, but I have had much more than others. I am driven to succeed, I work hard, and I know how to make a lot out of a little. My life has been a tad crazy, enough to fill a several volume series. What I want more than anything is to start the next volume in this adventure series, and it should be titled Return to Brandeis.

That volume may have come to something approximating a close, but if you are interested in reading the next one, look no further than this blog/website www.word-for-sense.com. Let’s have some fun together.

Cheers,

Talia