AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
I spent my high school senior year looking for colleges. I drove to them and checked out their campuses and structure.
I went from the upper west coast in Washington state to Arkansas and North Carolina to the East.
FLC was one of the last stops on my list, a recommendation from a former student Thomas Sheifer, who worked as my school's athletic director. He said that FLC shaped him into the person he was.
Upon arriving in Durango, I fell in love with the landscape. I’ve always outdoors and having the mountains 5 to 10 minutes away from our backyard, dorms, and campus was breathtaking.
After taking a gap year to do service work and center myself, I joined FLC in the fall of 2018. I declared an environmental science major, and was knee-deep in the higher education I sought. I loved the opportunities and the chance to enjoy what nature had to offer. My classes gave context to current issues in the local setting.
Here’s one of my favorite campus stories: OP was hosting a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon over fall break. I really wanted to go.
The sign-up was on a Monday, and I distinctly remember getting up around 4:30 that morning and heading out to the SLC with a sleeping bag. At that point, only a couple of individuals were there, one of which was breaking out a jet boil stove. He ended up sharing some chicken, flavored Ramen, and cowboy coffee.
It was a surreal experience, knowing that I had a class coming up early in the morning, and yet, here I was, waiting outside in the cold. It was a fine line between prioritizing my education and enjoying my time at FLC.
My ramen Buddy, Brice Hardin, and I would talk for hours about college experiences and our intended career paths. I made an excellent friendship that would last thought my time at FLC. When we went on the backpacking trip, it was everything I expected. The memories I have from that are still stuck in my mind, so much so I decided to journal them down. I still stay in touch with members of that trip occasionally.
What stands out most about that experience is that FLC offers opportunities for connections like that one.
I probably never would’ve met half the people from that trip if I didn’t take that chance and sign-up. Or social circles, interests, backgrounds, and grade levels, were so different- I don’t know if it would’ve happened otherwise.
My name is Lucas Brown, and I graduated in the winter of 2022 with a degree in Public Health.