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Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: Forum

Ashley Floyd - SGA Vice President

As I prepare for graduation on May 9 and attending graduate school soon after, I have been reflecting on my many experiences here at TSU. So before I depart Big Blue Country I want to share with you my journey at this university.

It amazes me how much I have changed since freshmen year. As I look at the person I am now, all I can say is "Wow!" To go from people calling me the girl "with no life" to the "hardest working woman at TSU" is something I consider a personal accomplishment.

What could happen in my life to give me the abilities to be open-minded, social and confident enough to run year-after-year for SGA, join a sisterhood and various student organizations, and travel and represent my university at various conferences and events? Well, here is the story.

After doing nothing really fun or productive but school-work for the first two weeks of classes I decided to run for freshmen class vice president. This position introduced me to the wonderful world of student organizations.

I loved planning and attending all of the freshmen meetings and events that year and my passion grew beyond my class. I joined the University Peer Counselors so I could mentor future classes and help improve the quality of students at TSU.

In the University Honors Program, I not only took honors classes but also attended various leadership conferences and built personal relationships with many administrators and faculty members.

I joined Love You Like A Sister Inc. so I could serve my community and learn how to be more interpersonal and out-going with other women.

I became very busy very quickly, and praise God I was able to maintain my 4.0 GPA with all of the commitments.

One thing I realized, however, was that I really was not happy. I used to force myself to be as close to perfect as possible, keeping myself busy and not allowing room for fun. I actually did not know how to have fun.

The love from my mentors, organizations members, advisors and friends, my passion for service, and my fear of failure kept me going.

Other obstacles at TSU contributed to my unhappiness. Every year I seemed to have a falling out with my new roommate or circle of friends.

It made me feel guilty and inadequate to not be able to maintain these relationships, but my mother gave me some great advice.

She said college is for growth and development and all of us mature at different times and levels.

Continued...

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