Harpur College 1966 Yearbook (Binghamton, NY) - Full Access

If the past four years have been different for each of us - happy, depressing, hec- tic, boring, overworked or underworked, lost, lonely, frustrating or rewarding - they haven't been empty. And now grad- uatiOn is coming, and we've realized it and prepared for it. Our last year has been busy, full of those last minute de- tails which always accompany departure. Yet in the midst of this, we suddenly realize that college is nearly over, that four years that seemed so long have end- ed so quickly. We think about why we came and what we wanted to learn. And we think about how we've changed be- "... perhaps love ... " cause of what has happened to us and what we have learned. Some of us have found a great deal here - a goal, a direc- tion, fun, friendships - perhaps love. Others have experienced less describable things, things which may have been unhappy, which may not have revealed a single goal. But they have resulted in a kind of personal insight, a subtle under- standing of others and of ourselves. We all have grown. We've all shared similar experiences dur- ing these years. The experiences, the people - and Harpur College, have been central to our lives for so long that leaving is somewhat unhappy. It is also uncertainty spiced with excitement, a desire to hold on to the security of the school, mixed with the need to face the impersonality of the world by ourselves. Leaving is the realization that Harpur has sheltered us for four years, protected us from what lies beyond its campus. Sometimes it is hard to admit our fears about leaving, and sometimes it is just as hard to admit our relief. Yet all of us, even if we have the security of a job or the acceptance at a graduate school, and especially if we h&ve no future plans mapped out, sense the finality which graduation represents. Mavbe we have a sense of disbelief at the"' idea that we are through. Yet we know that we can't tum back to Harpur for security. And some of us, havmg gained a sense of independence, feel ready to disassociate ourselves from the college, feel a kind of release at being free at last. Others, unsure of what may happen, wish we could stay longer in the closed .academic community. But no matter how we look toward graduation, we look toward it as changed people. " . . what lies beyond its campus"