As we wrap up the spring semester and are counting down the days until sweet summertime, it’s fun to think about all that happened during the year.
Sophomore year is lovingly referred to as “the sophomore slump.” Lots of sophomores find themselves here because we aren’t freshman anymore, so nothing is new and exciting. We aren’t going on CDAs every night, going to Waffle House at 1 a.m. at least once a week and meeting a ton of new friends every day.
We aren’t juniors either, so school isn’t super serious. We don’t really have to be trying to get our lives together and figure out career paths, summer internships and the future in general.
Sophomores definitely aren’t seniors either. We don’t hold most of the big leadership roles on campus, we don’t have to be terrified about having to live in the real world next year, and we don’t have to continually be saddened by the realization that this is the last Tiger Tunes, the last BOTR, the last Christmas break or the last Tiger Traks. We still have two years of all that stuff!
So what exactly are sophomores? Sophomores are special, in my opinion. We are able to easily relate to freshmen and all the excitement and fears that they have, because we were just there last year, but since we do have a little bit of experience, we get to begin to take leadership roles on campus and learn the ropes from the upperclassmen.
Sophomore year can be a time of a lot of personal growth as well. I know it has been for me. If you had told me back in August that I would be where I am today, doing what I’m doing, I honestly would have probably laughed.
This year has reminded me once again that the only thing constant in our lives that we can rely on is the Lord. We live in a busy world where things are constantly changing. We cannot fully rely on ourselves, our plans, or even our friends and family.
I always like to have “a person” in my life. You know, the kind of friend who you do absolutely everything with. She is your Sonic person, your midnight ice cream run buddy, the person you eat in the caf with at every meal; your person. She tells you what to wear and gives you the best life advice. This semester, my person was removed from my everyday life.
This was extremely hard for me and honestly scary at times. It was hard not to feel lonely when the room was quiet and I was the only one in there. But thankfully, God took this fear, this rocky stage of life, and used it to reveal something to me.
Silence and solitude in the presence of God is necessary in my life. My soul needs that time to be still and alone in His presence, mostly so He can remind me of how all the little things on my to-do list are not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
This semester I have learned how to be alone and be completely okay with it. I have learned that I do not need someone or something constantly making noise around me. I do not need to be doing something productive every hour of every day. It is ok to be still and rest in the presence of God. It is in those quiet moments that I can be reminded of who He is, who I am in Him and what my ultimate purpose is.
I hope that all you other sophomores out there have had a year of personal growth as well, and I hope that you didn’t just survive “the sophomore slump” but thrived in it.
by Katie Jo Henley, Staff writer
