By the close of your senior year, you take a moment to do a life check. All of those goals you entertained through childhood and adolescence are approaching their deadlines, and it’s time to do some introspection. “Have I made the relationships and connections that I envisioned? Is the person in the mirror the person I’d imagined?” Those questions’ answers can differ depending on the college you choose to attend.

I never really had a choice. I was going to The University of Alabama come hell or high water. The stately Greek revival architecture and relentless recruitment efforts had me hooked. The money they throw at students doesn’t hurt, either. Four years later, I’ve critically thought about what my life would have been at another university. Was this the 
right decision?

Maybe those uncertainties began when I didn’t reapply for the First Year Council in 2011 because of some shady SGA scandal that involved resignation of the sitting president. Or maybe it was when I realized not every student on campus is treated the same as an elite Honors program student like a University Fellow or the athletes who gain exclusive eating privileges at Bryant Dining Hall. I began to question my existence on campus even more when I read about young ladies being denied entry into certain sororities solely based on their 
skin color.

Sometimes it’s easy to look around and find a problem – irrespective of the view. I could have had similar qualms at an Ivy League university or community college in my hometown. What I think is key in the analysis of one’s experience here is the inclusion of how an opinion can change over time.

We come onto campus bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. All we know is that this place is perfect and nothing will change that opinion – until something does. Then we get angry or depressed over that realization. But then the student body elects a black independent SGA president, we make it into an honor society or we land an internship thanks to a 
university connection.

I’ve spent the last three years telling prospective students about my experiences here and how they should choose to attend The University of Alabama. Some days, I have felt disingenuous when telling them the sky is always bluer here and there is no better place for them to attend. Other days, I can’t begin to say enough about the evolution of the University into a shining beacon of academic and social development.

All of these meetings with our visitors have forced me to really address how I formed my opinion of the University. For every time there was a scathing opinion in The Crimson White about SGA ineptitude, I felt a bit disenchanted, but the very next day I would meet with a professor, who is a leading authority in her field, to discuss our research or watch student-led initiatives that raise communities from deplorable prospects. What a conundrum it is trying to explain 
this place.

We all learn in this microcosm of the state and nation that there are many problems we feel can fasten us to a predetermined path. With a set opinion, that may be true. But what I’ve realized in the past four years is that things can change quickly – particularly on this campus. I blame it on the students. There is constant desire to improve the University with fervor unlike any other I have encountered. That’s changing opinions. It certainly changed mine. If anything, I’ve learned to not get caught up with what always seems to be wrong. Instead, look around at what’s 
becoming right.

John Pounders is a senior majoring in economics. He was the president of the Honors College 
Ambassadors.