{"id":1164,"date":"2025-12-05T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/12\/05\/2025-12-05-remaining-rooted-in-the-seasons-ahead\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:11:21","slug":"2025-12-05-remaining-rooted-in-the-seasons-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/12\/05\/2025-12-05-remaining-rooted-in-the-seasons-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Remaining rooted in the seasons\u00a0ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emily Fox<\/a> · Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems as quickly as the semester began, it’s now ending. For the class of 2026, it’s the end of our seventh semester at Grove City College and our last fall semester. There’s something special about the first semester that makes it different than the second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are the obvious seasonal activities assigned to the fall semester: freshman welcome week, football games, Fall Fest, reuniting with friends who graduated at Homecoming, Wolf Creep, the Theatre Program’s fall musical and, most recently, Light Up Night; but something deeper makes the fall semester distinct from the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s the return to familiar faces after time apart. It’s the comfort of knowing what to expect. It’s settling into a place we’ve come to associate with home. It’s having a safe place where we have the freedom to explore our talents and interests, cultivate relationships and have access to professors and mentors who God uses to facilitate the growth of our faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can do many of these things in the spring, but fall is a season of returning. Meanwhile, spring often seems like a season of preparing to leave. For December grads, this dichotomy is flipped on its head. For them, this semester has been their season of preparing, and now, they’re about to enter the next stage of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December grads aren’t eased into the idea of graduating like spring grads are. Most of the senior class activities happen in the spring. These events mentally prepare spring grads for the next step by reminding them that graduation is coming and they should appreciate the gifts of this season before it’s over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do December grads navigate this strange transition, beginning the next part of their lives in what can feel like the middle of a familiar season? They might not have days of reflection built into their schedules, but they can still be intentional about appreciating the season of growth they are completing and considering what they will take with them into the next one. The responsibility to be mindful of how their past will inform their future has been shifted onto them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pray my friends graduating in December will remain rooted. Roots do not have to depend on place. We can be rooted in Scripture, our relationships and how we approach living in the world while being set apart from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can take the lessons we’ve learned about faith and people and apply them wherever we end up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope the class of December 2025 remembers that even in the midst of a strange, tumultuous season of change, God goes with them and as he laid their season at Grove City before them, he has formed the path they embark on now. I pray they will be comforted in knowing that God has already seen their future, and he works for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations, fall graduates. God has carried you to the end of another season. Take what he has given you and enjoy what comes next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems as quickly as the semester began, it’s now ending. For the class of 2026, it’s the end of our seventh semester at Grove City College and our last fall semester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[40,27,72],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-tower","tag-issue-2025-12-05","tag-editorial","tag-emily-fox"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"It seems as quickly as the semester began, it's now ending. For the class of 2026, it's the end of our seventh semester at Grove City College and our last fall semester.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1854,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions\/1854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}