Briana Ciccarino

When I think about what has led me to this graduation, I think of:
My 2 years of AmeriCorps
My Jesuit education
Anxiety about pursuing this particular degree
The support of friends, family, supervisors, mentors, professors, and peers
3.5 years of papers and group projects
16 classes, 5 jobs, 2 internships, countless families I babysat for, 4 different moves to row home after row home in Baltimore, and 1 special cat who followed me home and never left.

I think of so many quotes and people who inspired me and kept me comfort along the way. I find comfort in particular from this quote below:

“ What would I do if you never came here?
But I was ALWAYS coming here. I thought about one of my favorite Sufi poems, which says that God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen.”
- Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray, Love
(I believe the Poem Elizabeth is referring to is The Place Where You Are Now by Hafiz)

There were many nights and many seasons in which I did not know if this dream would happen. Thank you doesn’t begin to encapsulate the gratitude I feel in this season of my life, but it will have to do. Thank you to my clients and students from Baltimore, Orlando, and Apopka for allowing me to be a witness to your journeys. Thank you to my family and friends, peers, and professors. This degree has been my dream for so long and you all helped deliver me here.