I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my time here at MTSU. My journey here is not quite done, but I’ve been through a lot. I’ve loved my experience at MTSU, and sharing my series of fortunate events seems right.

I am a transfer student who arrived in the spring of 2021 during the pandemic. I moved to campus while no one could have a roommate, there were no events on campus, and most of my classes met on Zoom. But I loved every moment of it. I was finally here! I was finally away from my hometown in a big city, Murfreesboro. It’s not the biggest city but bigger than my hometown, Friendship, Tennessee. 

In my first semester, I was isolated, but I still found a community in the middle of the pandemic. During the first week of my first semester, I decided to audition for a musical that the theatre department was putting on, Godspell. Even though I wasn’t a theatre major, I got a callback for the show, and after waiting so long for the cast list to come out, I didn’t get the email saying that I was a part of the show. I did, however, get into the show. They just forgot to email me about it. At that moment, I knew everything was going to be alright. I started going to rehearsals, and that’s how I made my first friends here at MTSU. I’m thankful for them every day. 

The rest of spring ’21 was great! I made a lot of friends in my major. I joined some RIM student organizations. I built many strong relationships with my journalism professors. Things ended on a very high note in a semester of isolation. 

Let’s move on to my second semester at MTSU, fall ’21. This semester was hectic. I was in another production, Sweeney Todd, with the theatre department. I had a remote yearlong social media internship working on a Bicentennial Celebration. I started working as a front desk assistant in my dorm, and on top of that, I was taking 19 credit hours. As we get further into my journey, you’ll see that it’s a trend for me to pile a lot of things on during the semester. 

One of my favorite parts about Fall ’21 is that I got the opportunity to work at the Country Music Awards. I got this opportunity through one of my professors. My job was a talent wrangler; the talent I wrangled that night was Jimmie Allen. That night, Allen won multiple awards, including “Best New Artist.” It was such an honor to be a part of that amazing experience. 

Moving on to spring ’22, this was the semester where everything began to click. I found a friend group that turned into my family, I was doing well in all my classes, and I began to find a real passion for my major, Public Relations. I was again in a musical, Fun Home, with the theatre department. This was also the semester where I declared my Musical Theatre minor. If you couldn’t tell, I love theatre. Nothing quite interesting happened in Spring ’22, maybe that’s why I enjoyed it!

Fall ’22 was so much fun! I moved into an off-campus apartment and became a Blue Elite tour guide. If you guessed that I was in another production at the theatre, you would be correct! I went out more this semester. I played music with my friends, and I even went to a couple of concerts. The only downside of this semester is that my play got canceled due to COVID. I was one of the unlucky cast members to get COVID, but in my time of isolation, my friends still checked up on me. 

Now, finally, we are in the present. I am currently wrapping up the spring semester, and I am content with everything I’ve done while at MTSU. I am not graduating this semester, but I will graduate in December, which is exciting! This semester has been hard. I’ve been so busy with theatre, my major, work, and my social life. I wouldn’t change anything about this semester, though. I’ve never been happier, honestly. 

MTSU is a place I would call home. Being here has been my favorite chapter of my life. I’ve met some of the best people in the world here, people I want to be in my life forever. This is not me signing off, but this is just a moment of my appreciating everything I’ve been through while I’ve been here. So, thank you, MTSU. 

Author Stokeley Ellison is a Public Relations major with a concentration in the Recording Industry.