兔子先生系列麻豆

With graduation just around the corner, seniors all over the globe feel the terrifying excitement of finally entering the “real world.” I talked to a handful of Wayland’s graduating seniors about their time here at Wayland and their excitement going forward.

Lillie Jolly is a Plainview native, majoring in humanities. In her time at Wayland, she was involved in Koinonia, Sigma Tau Delta, and Delight Student Ministries, and this semester was awarded the Humanities award. Lillie plans to get a job working for Wayland after graduation, and is looking forward to starting a new life and making more memories beyond her college years. Lillie’s favorite memories at Wayland are being a part of and working Koinonia, meeting new people, and learning new things she could use in life.  What she will miss the most about Wayland is the comfort that Wayland’s welcoming environment provided for her. If she were to go back and change one thing about her time here, she would’ve been more active in student organizations and would’ve put herself “out there” more.

“Never forget,” said Lillie, “how wildly capable you are.”

Hope Castillo is a Sunray, Texas native, but she has attended Wayland since the fall of 2020. Hope has been involved in Track & Field at Wayland since her freshman year and joined the school’s inaugural softball team her junior year. Hope is graduating with a degree in fitness management, and after graduation, she plans to get into the occupational therapy program at Amarillo College, so that she can one day be able to help kids and older adults with disabilities. Hope is most looking forward to the “actual start” of her life, including not living in the dorms anymore, though she is taking memories from the dorms, and living on her own and pursuing a career in what she wants to do. Hope’s favorite memories come from the team ride to and from softball games and track meets, overnight stays with her teams, and being around all of her friends. If she were to do anything differently, she would’ve been more involved, gotten out of her comfort zone, and met more people.

“You’ll always have those memories you’ve made with them,” Hope said regarding the friendships she’s made during her time at Wayland. “They’ll be your friends for the rest of your life and you’ll be able to stay connected to them through social media or even in person.”

Angel Vega has also been enrolled at Wayland all four years of his college time, and is a Multimedia Productions major. Angel was involved in baseball, the Media Arts department, and sports information on campus here at Wayland. His most fond memories at Wayland consist of going out and playing baseball with his friends everyday, making content for the media arts department, and meeting and getting to know people from around the world. He will most miss the friends he's made here and the programs he has been a part of. After graduation, Angel plans to enter the film industry and looks forward to exploring creative avenues and being able to pave his own way.

“Control what you can control,” said Angel, “don’t be a hero.”

Faith Castillo is also a Sunray, Texas native who also spent her four years at Wayland on the track & field team and two years on the softball team. Her favorite memories are having fun with her friends on sports trips, because that’s when she would laugh the most and have the best moments, and making memories with the people she became friends with throughout her four years. If she were to go back and change anything about her time at Wayland, she would’ve been more involved with things going on around campus. She will miss all of her friends she is leaving behind, but she looks forward to starting a “new life” and leaving all the “bad memories” behind. Faith is graduating with a criminal justice degree and plans to either go to Lubbock to the police academy or go into the Air Force as an officer.

“A lot of them are my best friends,” said Faith about the friends she’s made here at Wayland, “even from just knowing them for a short period of time.”   

Wayland will celebrate these and all May 20204 students’ graduation on Saturday, May 18 at 2 pm in The Hutch.