Allyssa's BVU Experience

J-Term Experience/Coming Back from Winter Break

I turned onto West 4th Street and drove down the main road of BVU, taking the long way around past the football field. Snow blankets the campus, and I realize this is the last lap, the final stretch of my college race. Who knew four years could go so fast?

I was ready to begin the final classes I’d need to graduate. This small turn of my steering wheel spurred many memories. I remember when I first stepped on campus, moving into Pierce-White Hall to begin this crazy journey. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of BVU, which hasn’t changed. What has changed from those first moments is me.

During January Interim, also known as J-Term, I’ve been able to experience a vast amount of opportunities. I mean, what other college student can say they’ve learned to be a recording artist, siesta-ed in a salsa dancing class, traveled to Ireland, and marketed their own collegiate campus? Okay, Ireland was in May-but still, classified as interim. 

I like to say during this year’s experience, I could do what I do best: walk around and talk to people. There was obviously a lot more to it, but in a short synopsis of my internship, I was able to explore creativity so freely; it was perfect for me. In jumping into a brand new atmosphere of University Marketing and Communications, I was not quite sure what to expect. Within the first week, I could decide what I wanted to cover in J-Term courses, internships, and travel experiences. In doing so, I could learn what some of the classes were about without actually being in them.

I experienced shooting photos of watermelons and zombies in the Center for Criminal Justice Studies simulator, explored the local radio station and envision what it would be like to work there, and heard all about my friend Casey’s wildlife internship; he hung out with wolves all day, went on hikes, and experienced what life would be like in a course through the Osprey Wilds Education Center about World and Northern carnivores ecology and tracking. This was so cool for Casey to share with me because I live on 60 acres of land which holds a lot of wildlife. I gained a much greater appreciation of the land I’ve grown up on by understanding what life is like for these animals.

What I truly loved about my internship was the excitement in people I spoke to regarding their experiences. Casey loved his internship with a unique passion, which made it easy for him to expound on. If someone speaks with passion, it’s so easy to listen. There is nothing I love more than hearing someone talk about what they love.

Looking back on my internship experience, I learned so much. In writing for this new audience, which is much different from my past journalistic audience, I understood how to engage the reader’s attention in a different way. I really enjoyed this because it offered me more creativity when I wrote. In taking photos and creating fun videos, this sparked new ideas. In capturing how to make paper in the paper-making class, new angles were used, and b-roll was shot. In the past, I would not have known or understood what I needed to capture. Now, it seems easy.

As I unpacked my car upon my return from the short break before Spring semester, memories of the past resurfaced. Flashbacks of standing on the shores of the Atlantic in Ireland, playing piano and singing a solo onstage, and giving a salsa dance performance all hold positive connections I’ve made with people—and now cherish as memories. It seems impossible that it is 2020, and I’ve already had four J-Terms pass by. Now, I’m back for my final semester. I am ready. BVU has so much to offer. You only get what you want to get out of an experience, and the beauty of BVU gives so much, inside and out. Why not take everything I can get while I have the opportunity?

I may sound like your typical college senior, but the four years of college go so, so fast. They will create who you are, and BVU will always hold a special place in my heart—no matter where I am. As I laid in bed before my first class of the final semester, these thoughts enveloped my mind, and I smiled, ready to finish my race at Buena Vista University.