college

the day.

i have been dreaming about this day for five years. this is the day...the day i graduate from northwest missouri state university. five years ago i was doing the same thing at platteview high school. my life has taken some drastic turns since then. it has not been a smooth ride; i wish i could say it was. thanks to my family, friends, instructors, and mentors, i have made it to this day. i truly could not have done it alone.

five years ago i sat in marla's office and told her i wanted to transfer out of northwest. she smiled at me (the way she still does today) and sent me to laura's office after sharing her words of wisdom. laura and i had our first heart-to-heart. it wasn't long before she changed my mind and i knew northwest would remain my home. god put these amazing people into my life and they have been there with me every step of the way. through every stressed out venting session, story time with laura, drinks at labo's, lunch from goodcents, laughs in wells, and some solid crying sessions (from both sides). i step away from this university with way more than a degree. i'm stepping away with lifelong friends/supporters/mentors/family.

the first time northwest was recommended to me i laughed. i joked about bearcats not being real. that mentality changed as soon as i started researching the school and went for my campus tour. i applied early decision after meeting laura for the first time. aside from that moment freshman year when i wanted to transfer, i haven't looked back. northwest has been an amazing home and i'm sad to be leaving. however, i know that i am always welcome back. i leave knowing this massive bearcat family has my back wherever i go. i'm so grateful and proud to be in it.

today i walk across that stage filled with pride and happiness that my time at northwest has afforded me. yesterday i had a conversation with kris in the provost's office and president jasinski. i mentioned to them that some of my freshmen were returning to see me graduate. kris told me "that says something right there. that truly means a lot that they are still connected with you." i have been the proud pa of three classes of freshmen from the department of mass communication. these passionate students have filled me with tremendous pride. watching them grow and develop over their years at northwest is the most rewarding experiences of my life.

over this past week, tears have been shed as i experience to long list of lasts. trust me, there will be plenty more today. but, as marla says, only tears of joy. yesterday i received this beautiful willow tree angel, the angel of freedom.

beautiful in its own right but also because of the meaning behind it. so many things in my life have changed since i first stepped foot on this campus, all for the better. the lord has blessed me with these changes as well as the people who have supported me through them all.

i have so many people to thank and i'm going to do my best to try to fit everyone in: god, mom, dad, tyler pierce, jenny pierce, grandma pierce, grandma feekin, sandy and bill hill, pam pierce, jim and juel pierce, sarah pierce, elizabeth pierce, scott jenson, nancy diekmann, laura widmer, marla mccrary, will murphy, jody strauch, jacquie lamer, fred lamer, doug sudhoff, jason offutt, kevin fullerton, john kreicbergs, paul conley, tim carlyle, claudia beacom, sarah wayman, patty holley, john coffey, lisa bishop, carol spradling, alisha francis, april haberyan, cris jacobson, john jasinski, brian hesse, chris graves, linda puntney, mike dunlap, cindy capps, michelle drake, michelle allen, mallory murray, gina bradley, elizabeth dam, erin funk, molly mcwilliams, bethany honkomp, chris lee, megan switzer, abby patterson, jessica harris, dani macaro, brittany colbert, martise hicks, shawnta addison, alisha harkins, jasmyn froe, melissa watson, karl achey, ashley bally, courtney hopkins, danny thompson, ashley spalding, holly moon, meredith currence, mary clark, jason romano, jess haffke, jessica hartley, harrison and ashley sissel, lynne cuda, cassie bredensteiner, tyler ramaekers, cameron ramaekers, justice simpson, connor gary, christian grady, elise jones, julie weiss, amy naas, erik schrader, amanda petelin, michael flavell, anna heitz, brandi kapfer, cherece milton, michael willis, derick cunigan, micaela daley, dixie mcgary, emily and matt shapland, josh stanze, emily sparks, greg miller, jared ludwig, matt macrander, julia laimans, katie denison, kayla lindsey, leslie hubner, trevor hayes, evan young, kristine hotop, allison wilson, kylie guier, fan jiang, kayleen vande kamp, stacie zika, lindsey dustman, marsha jennings, michael duntz, michelle law, philip gruenwald, sarah rogers, sean callahan, dave morgan, taylor jones, theresa morgan, marcus benzel, wendy whelan, cassy smith, shay yount, and robbie votaw. {i know there are more people and i'm sorry if i forgot anyone!}

forward

fin

last final of my college career ended at 1:50 p.m. today. the reality hasn't fully set in. my boss asked me how it feels and all i could say was "calm." still have so many things to figure out within the next few weeks but for the moment, i'm going to enjoy the calm.

my friend bethany dedicated a blog post to me- how sweet! it's been a week filled with lasts and goodbyes, more like see ya laters. thank you so much to my friends, mentors, classmates and instructors for making my five years at northwest amazing.

audubon

happy 226th birthday to john james audubon! what a wonderful day for ornithology geeks. the google doodle is dedicated to his research on north american birds. check out this article about his birthday and the google doodle. {via}

true success

for those who need to understand the true meaning of success, here's a reminder.

finals

i feel like most of my fellow students are somewhere between stages three and five right now. hang in there 'cats...four days left.

5

five days left in my college career. graduation is saturday and i have yet to figure out how i feel about everything; mostly excitement with a tinge of sadness. fair warning- tears will definitely flow this week. {photo by Luma Zee}

easter

happy easter!

home sweet home

home for the weekend. it's so nice to come home to sunshine and my mac.

mashup

amazing mashup breakdown from my friend Ashley. LOVE it. we want to see if they could play these songs at graduation- pump us up to walk across the stage. what do you think? check out Girl Talk All Day and download the tracks.

apologies

it's the final week of classes, eight days left in my college career. that's the reason for the lack of posts. so...i'm sorry. no hard feelings? will return to regularly scheduled programming as soon as finals are over. in the meantime, check out this awesome/geeky letterpress apology notes from Elizabeth Weil/PaperWheel's etsy.com store.

altitude

check out the height of the Ruppell's vulture! {infographic created by Karl Tate at OurAmazingPlanet}

cedar waxwing

one of my photos just for miss erinbean

ebooks

schools are considering utilizing more ebooks and fewer printed textbooks. what is your preference?

yes!!!!

adele

your voice haunts me, lady. you're singing about everything i'm thinking and i find that amazing. {via}

tiffany

my goal purchase for myself someday. LOVE the Tiffany locks, especially this one. {more info at tiffany.com}

magic

to keep up entertained, my psych professor decided to show us her most famous, amazing "magic trick" that her grandson loves. reminded me of this clip from family guy.

max

today was my childhood dog max's birthday. i miss him so much.

sun drop

this commercial cracks me up!

NUI

7 secrets

lilies

Would LOVE to see this Monet triptych and the interactive digital display at the Nelson! This is the second time all three paintings have been shown together. More information about the digital installation by my friends John Kreicbergs and Chris Riebschlager here.

monet's water lilies at nelson-atkins museum

{photo via kc star}

GOM 4

what an amazing sight- a rare hooded crane. rare in the fact that that type of crane is native to Siberia and China. {story via Omaha World-Herald}

hooded crane a first in neb.

oxalis

andy

this is mainly for friends who have had the patience [for me] I cannot seem to muster. 

just do it

GOM 3

would actually enjoy some time in central Nebraska this week to have seen these beautiful, rare whopping cranes. {story via Omaha World-Herald}

whoopers join crane migration

virtue?

i have posted in the past on my other blog about my lack of patience. it's something i'm always working on improving.

alphabet

beautiful animation. font snobs rejoice!


The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

breathe

hectic week = constant reminders like these:

sundae

Happy 119th Anniversary of the Ice Cream Sundae! Today's Google doodle is dedicated to the anniversary.

In honor of the anniversary, below are a couple of infographics about ice cream.

designers

question

gravitas