Editor’s note: Snapshots is an occasional series focused on life experiences common to many students, captured and blown up to show the emotions and the stories behind these moments.
“Hey, you got something from OU.”
Senior Emma Lescher’s eyes snapped open when she heard her father’s voice. She had just arrived home from an exhausting day of work at Splitsville, and she’d almost fallen asleep on the u-shaped couch in her tan walled living room. Lescher groggily pulled herself up and off the couch and went to the kitchen, where her parents were, to get the envelope, and then she retreated back into the snugness of the couch.
As she lay there, she felt the envelope in her hands. It was thick, sort of like cardboard. It’s too soon, Lescher thought. She’d only applied to University of Oklahoma on Aug. 16, and it was only Sept. 18. Lescher said later that she “didn’t think much” of it.
Junior year was the year for Lescher to work harder than ever before in order to apply to OU. Lescher described junior year as her “hardest year” because it was “really stressful.” Lescher put in a lot of “hard work and late nights” during her junior year, and she said later that “it’s cool to know that everything paid off,” as she was able to apply to the school.
Lescher toured the campus she’d hoped her blood, sweat, and tears would get her into in late September. There was Evans Hall, with a classic crimson exterior and white embellishments and frames on the long, glass windows illuminated by the light inside. There was the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, with large clock hands ticking slowly on the front of the building and the skinny man-made pool flanked by trees. Lescher said she fell in love with “the campus and the college town.”
Now here she was, holding a letter from her beloved school.
She ripped open one side of the envelope.
Congratulations.
Lescher leaped up from the couch and onto the table in the center of the living room. She began to scream and the tan walls moved up and down as she jumped with glee. Her parents rushed into the room and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I just got admitted to OU!” Lescher shouted, a wide smile pushing up her cheeks.
Her parents picked her up and joined in her celebration. Lescher’s heart soared, and the smile that refused to melt away was plastered on her face.
After the grueling years of high school and all of the growing pains faced throughout, Lescher was going to attend her dream school.
She was going to be able to meet new people and escape the “Lovejoy Bubble,” just like she wanted.
She was going to be a Boomer Sooner.
