Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since my last blog. I guess life got really busy. A lot has gone on since we last spoke. Of greatest note is the fact that I had my college reunion and my high school reunion within a week of each other.
Augustana had it’s homecoming in the first week of October. It was awesome!! There were activities everyday and a lot of students participated. My favorite activity was the Monday night block party. The homecoming committee cordoned off an entire part of Summit Avenue and filled the street with people. There was a climbing wall, a band, a life size game of “Human Chess”, and lots of food. The weather was beautiful and people had a blast.
On Friday, a bunch of my buddies came back into town for the weekend’s festivities. These were all guys that I became friends with during my time at Augie. There are about ten of us that became friends, lived in the same dorms, road-tripped together, traveled to the same places (Japan, Nicaragua, Spain, Europe), and rented houses together. After college, we all went our separate ways (law school, med school, grad school, starting up a company, jobs overseas, etc), and yet we’ve all managed to stay in pretty good touch. The bond we formed at Augustana has remained amazingly strong!
The weekend after homecoming, I had my high school class reunion. It was very interesting to connect with a lot of people that I had hung out with in high school. We shared a lot of stories about the old days and all that we had done. We also spoke about what we had learned in college and how it had formed us.....how it had formed our vision for our future. After sharing those stories, it really hit me how much the Justin Mootz who graduated from Augustana College had changed from the Justin Mootz who my high school friends hung out with.
Augustana College challenged me to grow and change beyond anything I had ever expected! It didn’t allow me to live the materialistic, mundane life I was so comfortable with in high school. It surrounded me with extraordinary friends, professors who pushed me to achieve my potential, and ideas that changed my life forever.
As I looked around at my high school reunion, I saw some people whose lives were also changed by their college experience, and a lot of others whose wasn’t. I couldn’t help but think, what would have happened if I had gone somewhere else? Would I still look at the world with wonder like I do right now? Would I have been pushed to study abroad in Spain, or to work in Japan for two years? Would I have had a formative faith experience that propelled me to work with the church in Nicaragua? Would I be able to be happy with my crappy car, my small wardrobe, and my life full of experiences? Would I have 10 amazing friends who would do anything for me? I guess I’ll never really know the answer to all these questions, but I can tell you one thing, I’m glad I don’t have to find out!
Augustana had it’s homecoming in the first week of October. It was awesome!! There were activities everyday and a lot of students participated. My favorite activity was the Monday night block party. The homecoming committee cordoned off an entire part of Summit Avenue and filled the street with people. There was a climbing wall, a band, a life size game of “Human Chess”, and lots of food. The weather was beautiful and people had a blast.
On Friday, a bunch of my buddies came back into town for the weekend’s festivities. These were all guys that I became friends with during my time at Augie. There are about ten of us that became friends, lived in the same dorms, road-tripped together, traveled to the same places (Japan, Nicaragua, Spain, Europe), and rented houses together. After college, we all went our separate ways (law school, med school, grad school, starting up a company, jobs overseas, etc), and yet we’ve all managed to stay in pretty good touch. The bond we formed at Augustana has remained amazingly strong!
The weekend after homecoming, I had my high school class reunion. It was very interesting to connect with a lot of people that I had hung out with in high school. We shared a lot of stories about the old days and all that we had done. We also spoke about what we had learned in college and how it had formed us.....how it had formed our vision for our future. After sharing those stories, it really hit me how much the Justin Mootz who graduated from Augustana College had changed from the Justin Mootz who my high school friends hung out with.
Augustana College challenged me to grow and change beyond anything I had ever expected! It didn’t allow me to live the materialistic, mundane life I was so comfortable with in high school. It surrounded me with extraordinary friends, professors who pushed me to achieve my potential, and ideas that changed my life forever.
As I looked around at my high school reunion, I saw some people whose lives were also changed by their college experience, and a lot of others whose wasn’t. I couldn’t help but think, what would have happened if I had gone somewhere else? Would I still look at the world with wonder like I do right now? Would I have been pushed to study abroad in Spain, or to work in Japan for two years? Would I have had a formative faith experience that propelled me to work with the church in Nicaragua? Would I be able to be happy with my crappy car, my small wardrobe, and my life full of experiences? Would I have 10 amazing friends who would do anything for me? I guess I’ll never really know the answer to all these questions, but I can tell you one thing, I’m glad I don’t have to find out!
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