Diary of a Vet Student: Goodbye to Guelph: A final farewell

OPINION

 DIARY OF A VET STUDENT

Carleigh Cathcart recently graduated from the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program at the U of G’s Ontario Veterinary College.

Goodbye to Guelph: A final farewell

Ending 10 years of writing for The Ontarion

ARTICLE AND PHOTO BY CARLEIGH CATHCART

Ten years. It’s both a very long stretch, and a mere blip on the timeline of our lives. For me, 10 years represents not only the amount of time that has passed since I first moved to Guelph, but the number of years since I rediscovered life itself and began a journey of recovery, discovery, and growth.

On a hot September Saturday in 2011, I sat in a Lennox-Addington dorm room on a northern corner of campus, surrounded by the familiarity of my belongings and the strangeness of everything else. Having already deferred my acceptance to the University of Guelph by one year for health reasons, I had decided that it was time to try something — somewhere — new, in an attempt to regain the parts of me that I’d lost, and hopefully find some that I didn’t know existed yet. It was a frightening decision for both me and my family, but it ultimately proved to be exactly what I needed. Since that day, an astronomical amount of change has occurred in my life and in the lives of those around me. My own milestones throughout that time range from academic (two degrees) to personal (I’m engaged!). Ten years provided plenty of opportunity for gains (two siblings, a best friend, a support network) as well as losses (a grandparent, several beloved pets, a few friendships). The houses (five), jobs (eight), and people (countless) that came into and out of my life have each left memories and marks on me.

Guelph — the city and the university — looks dramatically different today than it did in 2011. The empty fields I passed while driving to school to attend Frosh Move-In Day are now filled with plazas and subdivisions — the new ‘south end.’ Condo buildings line the river downtown, where some of my first party spots waxed and waned in and out of existence. Today, shiny new chains du jour occupy the lot where the Sears department store once stood. Alas, a sign of the times.

The campus itself is perhaps even more divergent from my early days. Macdonald Hall no longer stands as the female-only residence, but instead houses the Lang School of Business and Economics. The engineering, veterinary, and agricultural colleges all boast new facilities, and the library layout today is unrecognizable to me. Even before COVID-19 hit, Creelman Hall and the University Centre had been transformed, open and brighter, but somehow more sterile and less welcoming too.

Even The Ontarion, which I have been writing for regularly since I first became a Gryphon, has seen its fair share of evolution.

Originally a weekly publication, the university’s independent student newspaper has experienced some financial and technological constraints over the past decade, transitioning to monthly issues in 2019. As such, the frequency of my submissions also dropped to monthly. With each academic period came new editorial staff, new paper design, and new angles for me to consider as a volunteer writer. My own submissions have ranged widely in topic, but were often opinion articles (as my need for catharsis would have it). More recently, my columns shifted to better connect the community at large with the veterinary world.

What time cannot change, thankfully, is the impact Guelph had on my growth as an individual throughout the most decisive years of my life. I am a firm believer that life is a summation of the insignificant, and what I’ve realized over the past decade is the collective impact each day, month, and year has had. The many exciting or challenging firsts (first bar, first homecoming, first exam) quickly tumbled into seconds, thirds, and fourteenths, playing a big role in shaping who I’ve become.

It’s important to me to note the unique aspects of Guelph that I’ll never forget. So for selfish purposes, I hereby honour my fond memories of: Pep Rally, College Royal, Old Jeremiah, Aggie Pub, Preservation Park, the Stampede Ranch bull, the Arboretum, the Basilica of Our Lady, Starkey Hill, the Guelph Storm, the Guelph Humane Society, and the numerous local businesses that populate this amazing city.

It’s harder for me to write this than I anticipated. Not because I lack the ability or the sentiment, but because the emotions in my brain and the motions of my fingers seem unusually disjointed. “Summarize the most formative decade of your life in 1000 words or less,” is what I tasked myself with. However, for someone who always has something to say, I am at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

So instead of trying to nicely condense an entire era of my life, I’m going to leave you with the honest farewell of a girl who will always be a Guelphite at heart. A piece of me was planted on campus ten years ago, and crept like a weed into a new corner of town with each passing year. Those roots are firm, and although I was not born here, it is difficult to believe I will call anywhere else ‘home.’

Goodbye, Guelph, and thank you for everything.