Hello! My name is Felicity Morgan (assigned pseudonym). I am 24 years old and I am graduating from Washburn in May 2016. I grew up in a small town with a mom, dad, and brother, my family went to church every Sunday and prayed about things when life got tough. I was raised to respect others, and be polite even if someone wasn’t so nice to me. Growing up in such a small and intimate family made us really close. My brother and I were both very active in sports so we were at the ball diamonds for most of my childhood. I would say that being around my family so much is one of the experiences that shaped my life.

Another experience that shaped my life was losing my brother when I was eleven. My brother died tragically and quickly. We never knew it was going to happen, it was a sudden death, my brother was only sixteen years old and I never thought I would have to bury him at eleven. After I lost my brother, I completely changed. The things my friends were worried about seemed minuscule compared to the tragedy I was feeling and going through. I grew up faster than I should have, which in return made it to where I didn’t fit in with anyone my age. Ever since losing my brother, my main worry in life is dying early and my parents having to bury their only remaining child. I never want to see them in that much pain again.

One of the biggest things that makes me happy is being around my parents, my fiancé, and my friends. I have had the same best friend for 10 years. She has been though almost everything with me. Other things that make me happy are my dog, Oreo, that I have had since my brother passed away, being outside in the fresh air, and being involved on my church.

When I heard about Washburn, I really wanted to check it out because I heard it was a small school. I never wanted to attend KU or KSU because their classes were too big for me to learn in. growing up in a small town I never had more than twenty classmates in my class at a time. I am not good at learning in a big crowd, I needed to be able to know my teachers and go to them when I needed help, and I also knew it was only ab hour from home. Being close to home was one of the most important things when it came to picking my college because I needed to be able to be close to my parents.

One of the things that makes me different from the others from WU is that I am 24 years old, but I am a non-traditional student. I work a fulltime and a part-time job while going to school. It is difficult to do some of the assignments the teachers assign while working two jobs. I truly appreciate some of the things my teachers have done to help accommodate me while I have faced some difficult circumstances while going to Washburn. I truly love this school and it has helped me grow tremendously, not only as a student, but also as a person.