“On, on Buffaloes, We are right for the fight tonight;” these words are now emblazoned into my mind as a transfer student. Being 24 and still in college can sometimes feel demoralizing. I have friends my age that have graduated or are younger that have graduated, yet I’m not. This feeling is natural, but it isn’t detrimental to my collegiate success. It doesn’t matter how long you take exactly\; as long as you finish, that’s what matters most.

I graduated high school from Canyon in 2014. That fall, I began school at Amarillo College. My time there was spent floundering around. From not taking class seriously and attempting to find joy in the major I thought was for me, this wasn’t a great start to my college career. My idea of a great career path, for me, was video game design. I wasn’t aware of the requirements that went into this degree. Courses in animation, programming and the like filled my first semester, and I immediately felt out of place. Not thinking of the actual ins and outs of the field, I believed that since I enjoyed video games, I could find a part of that medium to have a career.

The bright side of these basic courses was that I found the graphic design aspect fascinating. This fascination led me to change majors, eventually to mass communications, in which I graduated with an associate’s degree in 2018.
My original “plan” was to start at AC and then transfer to either the University of Texas Dallas or Eastern New Mexico University. Blasphemy, I know. The programs in video game design at these schools, to me, seemed the likely choices for me after AC. With my new focus on mass communication, I knew that staying home at West Texas A&M University would provide me with the opportunities I had been looking for all along.

What I didn’t know was that choosing to finish school at WTAMU was the best decision I could’ve made. I started in the fall of 2018 as the “new kid,” an odd concept to consider in college. Right off the bat, I immediately felt more at home. This feeling was something I didn’t necessarily feel at AC up until the end of my time there. I wasn’t the most involved there. I would go to class and then go home. On the first day at WTAMU, I found a group of friends that I still spend time with and hold dearly. I found my people and my calling here. I started branching out, trying new things and becoming involved in different organizations and classes. In the spring of 2019, I took the then Prairie practicum class. I didn’t know at that time that this opportunity would open the door to possible new career paths.
I have still been able to keep up with and expand my interests in graphic design that I more than likely wouldn’t have been introduced to without Amarillo College six years ago. It’s crazy to think that my collegiate career has given me so much. The finish line is in sight, and it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to this time of my life that my friends and professors have given me at both AC and WTAMU.

My experience is just one of the many that could go on the WTAMU brochures as to why you should become a Buff. Go Buffs, or Bo Guffs, as we’ve come to call home.