Sixteen Weeks

I'm sitting in LAX Terminal with another 3 hours until my flight to JFK. Next up is the New York subway over to Manhattan heading to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. From there I'll take a 3 hour, cramped bus ride to Wilmington, DE: my final destination. This is a trip I've completed half a dozen times by now but this may be the last, at least for a while.

Monday marks the beginning of my final semester of college. May 1st I will walk across the stage and receive my MBA (or at least the lovely case it will go in). It's strange that this 5+ year journey of U.S. College is coming to an end shortly. I've achieved and done more than I ever imagined. I've made lifelong friends (and probably a few enemies, oops). Graduated community college with honours, my undergrad Magna Cum Laude and recognized for high athletic and academic achievements. I helped two college cross country teams turn the corner from ignored to respected, I was a part of two inaugural college track & field teams, created an entrepreneurship club, saw more of the U.S. than many Americans, from southern California to Lake Michigan to the Jersey coast.

This was all possible because of chance, hard work, perseverance and opportunity. I don't believe that I would have done and seen all these things with the opportunity to compete in collegiate sport and combine my passion for running with my education.

And now I have sixteen weeks left.

College Student is how I have defined myself for the past few years. It was always going to end. It's strange that I'm both excited for the change and not ready to move on. But it's happening whether I'm ready or not.

-Jono Hooper, 10/01/2020

Built for Adversity