Three Years... and it seems like an eternity

Just about three years ago (I missed the actual day by 3 days), I joined ProgressiveU. I joined for much of the same reason the majority of you probably joined; I found out about the scholarship opportunity on Fastweb, and decided to give it a shot. I posted my first blog a day after I joined, talking about a topic that is still near and dear to my heart: Healthcare Reform. Considering my blog topics still by and large cover health topics (my two most recent series' being on medical ethics--I have some new topics for that one--and medical myths and fraud), not a whole lot has changed.

And yet, everything has changed. I started out on ProU as a 'sophomore' in college (I only spent 3 years in school, so I was actually a junior, but it was my second year). I was looking for a little extra money to help out with the costs of school. I didn't have a job, I was dating a guy I met while in high school and fully planned on marrying him, I was still a Christian, and I was rather naive. Still, I made an effort to win that scholarship. I'm not sure where I finished in that first semester, but it didn't particularly matter; I fell in love with the discussion I had found.

The next semester, I still participated in the competition. Come April, though, I was invited to be a part of the staff. I figured that I had enough scholarship funding for the following year (and didn't think I was going to win anyway), so I gave up my place in the competition and joined up. Together with a small staff, I worked to make the people on this site happy with new features and improved accessibility to the site.

By Fall 2007, a year after I joined, I was juggling trying to make this site great, a full schedule at school, a part-time job, and a few volunteering gigs, in addition to applying for medical school. I had far too much on my plate, but this site was important to me. In that first year, I had grown so much. Thanks to debates I participated in here, I gave up my belief in the Christian god. While I had doubts about it before, the discussions here allowed me to work out the struggles in my head, and helped me to find a spiritual path that suited me better. I became somewhat knowledgable about various issues, because I got frustrated when peope would debate them without knowing the facts. I got exposed to issues I wouldn't have otherwise cared about, because people on this site were passionate about them.

The Spring of 2008 was rough for me. I was rejected from medical schools across the nation and had an identity crisis as a result... when medicine is something you've wanted to do since you were a kid, and those dreams are pulled from under your feet, it's hard to know what to do next. I broke up with the boyfriend I thought I was going to marry after he had some very trying family problems. I was graduating from college, and had no idea what to do. I had basically lost everything I defined myself by. Progressive U helped me through it, in a variety of ways. First, I was a Director, and I had some sort of purpose here. I didn't know what I'd do for a career--I certainly couldn't stay at the part-time job I was doing--but I could come here and organize and plan and actually do something that made a difference, even if it was only a small one.

People often brush off online endeavors, but the people I met on Progressive U saved my life. Not quite literally, but they helped me through some of the hard times I was facing. Fallon, sawaboof, ediblewoman, Fanaile Essence, among others... They have been friends more than some people I went to college with but considered my friends, more than my 'best' friends from high school. They, I think, know more about me than almost anyone else in my life. They, along with the people I currently work with and a few people from school, are the ones who came out in force to congratulate me when I got my acceptance to medical school two days ago.

I recently got an e-mail from someone wanting to delete their account. We do get these with some regularity, and we always ask for a reason. Most of the time, people have just moved on. This time, though, the person told me that since she wasn't in college, and didn't need the scholarship, she didn't see any point in the site anymore. While I'm not sure I particularly want her on the site with that attitude, I am amazed that so few people get something really powerful out of this site. But, I'm glad I'm one of them.

Thank you everyone for making this site great. And remember, if there's anything you want to see changed, let us know... we respond amazingly well to feedback :)