The end of an era

By Peyton Wood, Distinguished Young Woman of Texas for 2017

Freshman year went by faster than I ever expected it to. It was full of ups and downs and twists and turns which made it difficult, but exciting. For my last blog (eek!), I wanted to get real and tell some stories about my freshman year.

My first story is about my experiences with my Baylor University Theatre (BUT) Family. In my major, we have lineages, similar to Greek life (rush BUT). A few weeks before school started, a girl I’d never met before messaged me on Facebook telling me that she had been waiting to meet me for months. Imagine how amazing that made me feel! I was overjoyed that someone cared so much about me and they didn’t even know me. After big/little dates and family dinners, my “big,” “twin,” and “cousin” are some of my best friends in college and I can’t thank BUT enough for giving me that. I love you guys.

Another one of my favorite memories of the past year was late nights with my roommates and friends. I loved the late night drives to Czech Stop and Whataburger. Watching random movies or working on projects until we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore. I was blessed to live with people who love people and our dorm always had something going on in it. Between singing Broadway and Beyoncé while doing dishes and practicing our songs and monologues with each other, our apartment was filled with love. I’ll miss you guys.

Perhaps the best part of going to school 3 hours away from home is that I get to see my family pretty much whenever I need to. I went home for birthdays, 3-day weekends, and many other events, and they came up to see me too! I remember when they came up and spent homecoming with me. My mom was so afraid of the bonfire in the middle of one of the big fields on campus (it was being controlled!). I was so thankful to be with them so often this year and I hope to be able to spend even more time with them next year.

Baylor was one of the best decisions of my life and I am so overjoyed that Distinguished Young Women was able to help me get there. I’ve learned how to work hard and still play hard, I’ve learned that not everyone wants to be your friend, and most importantly, I’ve learned that everything happens for a reason. From randomly getting paired with life-long friends to choosing a school so close to my family, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start off college.

Time for my last Myth Busters!

Myth #1: Going to school close to home will make me less independent.

Fact #1: Just because my school is only 3 hours away from home doesn’t mean I go home every weekend or that my family comes up every weekend. It simply means that it is easier to get home, which can be very helpful! I’ve been able to come back and see my friends who are still in high school and I came home for my sister’s birthday. That wouldn’t have happened if I went to school out of the state! So don’t pick a school far away just because you want to get away from your hometown. Sometimes it’s nice to come home!

Myth #2: If I didn’t find my best friends for life my freshman year, I will never find them.

Fact #2: You can make friends at any time. ABSOLUTELY ANY TIME. I have some great friends from my first year but I am super excited to meet the incoming freshmen and show them the ropes and I have a huge hope that I can be just as close to some of them as I am to my friends in the class of 2021.

Myth #3: This is the last you’ll see of me.

Fact #3: Even though I am unable to make it to Nationals this year, you better believe you’ll be hearing more about me. Hopefully you’ll see my name in a Broadway playbill someday, or maybe I’ll be running a DYW program. Either way, I’m not done making my mark on this world.

Thank you for reading my blogs. They have given me the chance to really sit back and think about my month and the lessons I’ve learned. I can’t wait to read the blogs done by the Class of 2018!!