AUTUMN

In all honesty, I had the roughest start to the quarter ever and made the very difficult decision to drop my honors thesis. I have always been the type to bite off more than I chew, but the first two weeks of Autumn quarter pushed me to new lows. I was taking two LSJ seminars, the JSIS departmental honors thesis, starting a new job that was 20-25 hours a week, and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Jackson School Journal.Given that I had already completed the necessary coursework for the International Studies major (capstone included), I decided the only tangible way to lighten my load was to let go of my thesis. The attached document is the last outline I made for my thesis, the meeting which made me confident that dropping the class was the best way forward. I felt that, despite how much effort I was putting into the course, I was not getting positive feedback. 

The decision to take 10 credits while working part-time in downtown Seattle was something I wouldn’t change for the world. Although I was deeply upset that I would not be able to pursue my departmental honors thesis, I am incredibly proud of myself for being able to recognize my limits. I worked so hard in my first couple years, taking 18 credits every single quarter since Spring Freshman year, and that grind is the reason I am able to graduate a quarter early with two majors and interdisciplinary honors. It only felt right to give myself some grace in my last year.