Trey D.

If you’re reading this, find the good and pursue it relentlessly.

It sounds almost ignorant to say, but what an incredible opportunity it is to face trials while in college. There is no better place to come face-to-face with hardship than while attending the greatest place on Earth.

I say that as someone who recently walked through a season where things didn’t go according to plan. I stood in the middle of a Student Body Campaign that ended in a disqualification. Behind the tailwinds of Instagram posts, emails, and anonymous threads came rumors and "noise" that I had never experienced before. It is truly a weird feeling sitting in your apartment and knowing that something you put so much passion into has been reduced to a headline or a comment section. 

I knew at that moment that I had two options.

I could let my thoughts hold me captive.

Or I could shift my perspective, find the good, and pursue it relentlessly.

When the world gets loud, you have to resort back to what you know is true. I refer to these things as my anchors because I know they won’t shift when the storm around me strengthens.

I have a God who loves me more than anyone ever could. He sent His Son to die on a cross so that I could experience eternal life with Him. When you realize your identity and worth are found in heaven, a disqualified election starts to lose its sting.

I always have a home at Schilletter Dining Hall. People may joke about it, but that place and the people I eat with know me better than I know myself. It’s a place of consistency that I will never take for granted..

I have access to some of the greatest nature and weather this side of the world has to offer. Not many people can be chucking snowballs at their buddies one week and playing “Angleball” in 78 degree weather the next.

I began to think about the reality of my situation. I go to Clemson University, and my identity is rooted in something more than a minor setback that doesn’t define who I am. I am rooted in strong community, unwavering faith, and natural beauty that can never be taken from me.

I realized that the inspiring words of Thomas Green Clemson ring truer than ever when he said,

“Next to my church and my home, I love Clemson University beyond all other institutions on this side of heaven.”

If you’re reading this, you may be going through your own “disqualification”. I am here to tell you that you have the same two options I had. You can stay captive to the trial, or you can see the opportunity within it. I promise you the good is there, it may take a while to find it, but when you’re at Clemson, it isn’t going anywhere.

James 1:2-4 states: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (NIV). Ever Loyal and Praise God for his many blessings,

Trey D., Clemson University

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