by kwheele4 on May 7, 2021
Editor's Column
A Reflection on My Time at Providence College
by Andrea Traietti ’21
Editor-in-Chief
Seeing as this is our final issue of The Cowl, this is the final Editor’s Column I will write, marking the end of my tenure as editor-in-chief of The Cowl.
I would usually write my Editor’s Columns mid-week, in the midst of dealing with homework piling up and working on the issue we were putting out, so sometimes having to sit down and write felt like a chore.
But something that I appreciated about writing the Editor’s Column each issue was that it often provided an opportunity for me to pause and reflect—on anything and everything from what was going on in the world to what was happening on campus.
Seeing as my time at Providence College is now coming to an end, I find myself reflecting on my college experience more broadly as I’m sitting down to write this last article, so I figure I’ll use my final words in The Cowl to express just how grateful I am for the place that has made me who I am today.
My freshman year was, in a word, miserable. Like many other freshmen, I felt lonely and out of place. I went home a lot. I considered transferring.
But something kept me here. I’m not sure why I felt this way, but I always had faith that if I stuck it out, things would turn around.
And they did, slowly but surely. I’m not quite sure when or how everything shifted, and though I know it was a gradual process—and one that took a lot of work—sometimes it seems like it happened overnight.
It can be easy to laugh about how often the College talks about Divine Providence, but looking back from where I’m at now, it’s clear to me that while the happy moments, opportunities, and successes far outweigh the failures, struggles, and challenges, those difficult moments have been equally important. They challenged me and changed me for the better, and they made me who I am.
So if I could say anything to my freshman-year self, or to anyone else who finds themselves now feeling just as I was four years ago, I would say just that.
My freshman-year self wouldn’t have believed me if I told her about the opportunities she’d encounter academically and extracurricularly or the incredible friendships she’d make along the way, and she surely never would have imagined herself where I am now.
From where I’m sitting now, if PC has taught me one thing, it’s to have faith—in every sense of the word. That perspective has been life changing and defining for me, and it’s one that I am immeasurably grateful to have. And, so, in the end, I feel strongly that I owe it to this amazing place, Providence College—and to the people who make it everything that it is—for making me who I am.