Honors College Dinner Dance

Katie D.

May 14, 2010 - 2:20 PM

Each year, the Clark Honors College holds a dinner dance celebration for the soon-to-be graduates. Last night approximately a hundred 2010 grads gathered in the EMU Ballroom for dinner, reminiscing, and a lot of dancing.

It was a great night. The Honors College has been my surrogate family at the University of Oregon: the most important facet of my college experience. The atmosphere of the place is such an amazing sense of support and camaraderie. At least that's how I experience it: that I'm working together with my fellow students in dialogue, and that we generally notice and care about each other. The faculty have so much to do with this: their engagement and enthusiasm in the classroom creates a space in which we can all be present in the experience of the course material. The dinner dance brought us all together: students, staff, and faculty. I saw some of my favorite HC personnel bust a move on the dance floor, and witnessed some pretty funny stories being told on our professors during the open mic portion of the evening. One of my favorite professors mentioned repeatedly that some of the music playing (notably Journey) had been played at his college graduation as well.

I had a very intense moment of preemptive nostalgia while sitting down to our meal. There were about twelve people there with me at the table, and I had a moment of full realization that each of the young men and women around me were people whom I love deeply, and with whom I have shared scores of meaningful times. We've been classmates, travel partners, romantic interests, dancing buddies, and best friends. My seven best friends (collectively known as "The Group") have been together as a full and identifiable group since February of Freshman year. The roots of The Group date back to Introduction, the orientation program months before our first classes. I have always felt that we came together by some magical combination of fate and luck. Really, I can't imagine it any other way. We were all in the Walton dorms together-the Honors College Halls. We're all in the HC. None of us share a major, and none of us studied in the same countries. We are as eclectic and as fractious as we can be-a huge squabbling family that has been my touchstone through everything these four years.

Now I have to shift gears: I'm getting all teared up.

The great thing about last night, though, was that there were five or six other people who joined us at our table. They were other people we have shared stories and adventures with over the years, including several who have been as consistently dear to me as The Group itself. I looked around and realized what I had gained in college, and what I would lose with graduation.

Again, that's a sad blog for another night.

David Frank, Dean of the Honors College, volunteered me for a quick speech to start the open mic rolling. I don't know that I did a great job-I was caught between being honored and being horribly embarrassed. So I told an embarrassing story about some freshman year shenanigans, and passed the mic on to other members of the audience. We all have so many memories from these years, and it was wonderful to hear them voiced in that room full of peers.

We graduate in a month. One full month from now, and we'll be turning our tassels. We've come a long, long way together. I'm glad this evening was spent in good company, with more memories being made. Plus, you should have seen some of the staff dance!