Friends

Having a mentor in college can be an awesome experience. Especially when that mentor is an older student. They have been in your shoes and yet are still on the same path as you. They also are genuinely a friend. I know over the course of this semester I have learned a lot from my mentor, Michael Walton. I met Michael when he was my frog camp facilitator at Frog Camp Paris. We bonded across the ocean and then kept in contact when we got back in the fall. I would catch lunch with him on occasion but really got to bond with him this semester.  Being able to sit across from a table and talk about life with this guy has been an awesome opportunity. He is one of the most well rounded, good hearted, faithful individuals I know and to have him influence me makes me really lucky. Just this last weekend I had the opportunity to sit down with him while eating at Woodshed (we decided we would get something really good for a last meal before he graduates). He is working for a nonprofit company in the Dominican Republic at the end of the month and won’t be back for a year. Because it will be a while I just grilled him with questions and advice. The advice for me is something that I will be able to hold with me throughout college. Something that he told me that I didn’t think so much about before pertained to Frog Camp. He told me to make the very best of it. He said how this is an opportunity to meet a diverse group of people that I normally wouldn’t interact with. He also said how unexpected friendships, such as our own, could be formed through it. I really took that to heart. I had thought Frog Camp would be a cool experience already but to realize that I just need to be intentional with it and that I would grow that way was something I liked to hear. It’s going to be sad to see him graduate and then move off to another country after this month. However, he has been a role model and showed me who I want to aspire to be when I graduate college three years from now. I have learned a lot over in my classes but these intangibles that will help me grow as a person are just as, if not more, important. I look forward to getting the opportunity to grill him when he returns stateside for more insight on life.