In The End: It DOES Matter

Well, here I sit, back where I started, but in reality I'm a long way away from there. I'm sitting ten feet from the chair I sat in the first day I got here, but I'm really ten days away, ten years away, ten lives away. Everyday this week has presented me with a new experience, a new outlook on life, and new friends. I sit here now an entirely different person, one who knows what it takes to be a leader, one who is ready to stand up and become that leader.

I'm not going to talk about everything that happened this week, because that would take far too long, but I will say this much. I never thought saying good bye could be so difficult. These people that I've spent these last ten days with have become great friends of mine, and I don't know what I'll do without being able to see them everyday. I don't know how to say good bye, and I'm not sure I want to. I've had so much fun, and learned so much more, but in the end, what really matters are the friendships I've made, and the amazing people I've met.

I know you don't know them, but I have to find someway to say good bye, and I'm a little too afraid to do it in person. Sarah, you've been a great friend, and I'll never be able to forget your addicting laugh. Emma, thanks for always being there, even when I didn't want you to be. Rachael, I'm surely telling Heather that you look just like her. Andrew, thanks for stepping up and showing me how to take charge, even if it made you less popular with the "cool" kids. Philip, James, thanks for putting up with me everyday, I know that being my roomate must not have been easy. Josh, thanks for taking my name and for making me laugh. Keerthighaan, thank you for being a great friend, I won't forget to send you those pictures. Camille, you were a fantastic mentor and I'm glad that you were in charge of my group, I couldn't have asked for a better FA. Abbie, you were the first person I met, and therefore the last that I can say good bye too. I didn't get to talk to you much during the week, but I haven't forgotten you.

I would like to thank everyone for a fantastic experience. I'll be contacting everyone that put their name on my list. Lane, make sure you follow up on your goals, six weeks goes by quick.

I will hopefully be putting most of my pictures on my site sometime in the near future, so if you wish to see them, just keep checking. I'm aiming for sometime this week to have it all updated.

This is Joshua Laughlin, reluctantly signing out of NYLC.

Good bye and good luck my fellow scholars, no, my friends.