Emily “E.J.” Johnson: “My Name” (Grad Sunday)
Before I went to college, I had various nicknames. While my name is Emily, my dad calls me Tulip, my mom calls me Emiloo or M&M, and my Uncle Chaz calls me Emmers. When I came to Pres House in…
Ray Czerwinski: “The Importance of the Hard Part” (Grad Sunday)
I’ve never been good at endings, but I love beginnings. We never want to say goodbye to our graduates, but we also love the influx of faces in the fall. You know the meme with the dog that says, “No…
Nathan Tan: “Keep Laughing on Porches” (Grad Sunday)
When I first came to college, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to attend church at all. Experiencing the COVID pandemic in my junior and senior years of high school had taken me away from regular worship. Before that,…
Anna Saeger: “Because of You” (Grad Sunday)
I have spent an incredible amount of time thinking about who and what to talk about and how. Did I want to tell a story about my time here? Did I want to talk about people I’ve met ? I’ve…
Lauren Pettis: “So Much More” (Grad Sunday)
Those that know me well know that I like to be busy. For or better or for worse, I have a hard time sitting still, and I love trying new things. When I got to Madison as a nervous eighteen-year-old,…
Olivia Avery ~ Grad Reflection
This may be hard for some of you to imagine, but when I came to campus in the fall of 2019, I was an extremely shy and not very confident-in-myself freshman. I remember the first night in my dorm, I…
Lydia Larsen ~ Grad Reflection
When I entered the UW campus four years ago, a church was the last place I ever wanted to be. I was happy to start pursuing a career in science, intent on joining a research lab, and with science by…
Maddy Peppard ~ Grad Reflection
Confidence is often marketed to us as a one-size-fits-all solution to our problems. If we just had confidence, we would get the job, have the relationship of our dreams, and run marathons in record time. But the truth is, confidence…
Evan Digman ~ Grad Reflection
It’s a privilege to speak today and celebrate the past four years. For me, Pres House is that, a home; one that provides shelter, warmth, and rest. I’ve found simple joys like coffee and conversation, and making music with friends.…
Jacob Larget ~ Grad Reflection
Having grown up here on the West Side of Madison, I had one primary aspiration out of high school: to move away and reinvent myself. I mean, it was the end of 2019. Nothing big was about to happen, right?…