Endings and New In all of our lives, we have to make hard decisions. Saying goodbye changes us and can be difficult to work through. What determines how we handle these endings and what comes next is our ability to be resilient. Here at Millikin, members of our community have had to let go of important parts of their lives and are now moving forward. Bianca Aguilar is a junior nursing major at Millikin University, also obtaining a minor in theatre. Theatre was the focus of Aguilar’s life for nearly seven years. Her middle and high school career consisted of auditions, practices and performances. But once Aguilar entered college, her parents encouraged her to prioritize career stability. That is when she decided to change her major to nursing and move theatre, her passion, to a minor. “Theatre was a good way to express myself. I was an awkward person growing up, and theatre made me feel like I fit in somewhere,” Aguilar says. She was sorrowful when she began her life without theatre as its main focus. “It just sucked because I didn’t have the time for it anymore. I got sucked into adult life,” Aguilar states.
Aguilar believes keeping a minor in theatre helped her adjust. “While it is not the same as performing, getting to learn more about the technical side of things has been a good way to stay connected and move on at the same time,” she says. “It was just time for me to take the next step in my life.” Overall, Aguilar feels that giving up theatre was the best decision for her future, though moving on was difficult.
Gary Cecil, success coach in the CAPP, feels the same way. Cecil used to center his life around football; he played for nearly 15 years. But his football career ended his freshman year of college when it came down to academics or athletics. As a first-generation college student, he knew he had a tough decision to make. “I’ve always been really competitive, and it was time that I got to spend with my friends. Whenever we all got
