Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly, Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow. It was this Langston Hughes quote that I chose at the conclusion of high school to accompany my yearbook photograph. Looking back on this time four years ago, Im not so sure I knew what dreams I had, or to what I was holding fast. I have always been a girl with ambition, but the sort of dream-chasing I had experienced was far different from that in which I would later engage.
The way I see it, Brandeis is an incubator of dreams. Although each of us in the class of 2005 had a unique story upon entering Brandeis, we were all part of a standardized herd. We were tackling goals that were inextricably part of an arguably existential growing up experience: all of our resumes were uniform roller-coasters of over-achieved work, of teen angst and subsequent maturity, of moving forward, upward, to the next step. Yet, once our feet first grazed the grass of this next step, Brandeis, our nascent individualisms were able to be nurtured.
Just looking at my own best friends, at the development of both our characters and our friendships with each other, I see how this nurturing has occurred. The Brandeis Bubble (the endearing term that describes the sometimes overwhelming feeling of shelter we students feel here) instigates a saturation of peoples personalities here. When friendships develop between the overwhelmingly good people at Brandeis, not only are individuals augmented by each other and the greatest friendships formed, but also we are able to push each other towards dreams we may not have seen for ourselves.
Together with my friends, we have developed into something more like family, putting each other back on track when we have lost sight of our dreams. We have cried at rejections from professional schools and from lovers, we have wept at deaths of parents and grandparents, we have injured ourselves and accompanied each other on visits to the emergency room, but through it all we have laughedat the experiences, at each other, and sometimes for no reason at all. We have developed such strong bonds that it is comforting just being in the presence of one another. Brandeis students emanate something special. Something special was seen for their acceptance to Brandeis, and by the end of four years here, these specialties are magnified. I think I can safely say that everyone dreams they will find people they will treasure forever. So, what is Brandeis if not a breeding ground for best friends who push each other towards success? Thats what I think it is.
Editor's Note: This article was slated to be printed in the comencement issue, but The Hoot chose not to print one.
