Life After Ripon – Kyle Ruedinger ’13

Chapter 6: Life Happens Fast

[Editor’s Note: Kyle Ruedinger ’13, Amy Browender ’13, Elizabeth Brown ’13, and Jessie Lillis ’13 are writing alternating monthly entries for the Ripon College Newsletter chronicling their post-graduation experiences. We hope you enjoy their perspectives on Life After Ripon!]

Summer is finally upon us, and school is out for nearly all students. I had the opportunity to make it up to Ripon for this year’s commencement. It was a perfect, late-spring afternoon on campus as students received their diplomas after many years of hard work. The weather was ideal, and it was a smooth commencement. I was able to catch up with many of my professors and also ran into several other recent grads at the event. Congrats to all the graduates and way to go, Ripon, on another great commencement planning! The passing of the 2014 graduation at Ripon made me realize that I graduated a whole year ago. A year sometimes seems like a long period of time, but as many of you reading this probably know better than me, it’s not. The years just keep flying by. It feels like ages ago that I was a student at Ripon, and apparently ages squared since high school. Life happens fast, so make sure you enjoy every minute of it!

Another commencement also means that I have an entire year of coursework done as I work towards my next degree. The day-to-day kept me so busy that the time flew by, but in the minute-by-minute, I felt as if it was a never-ending year, exam after exam. As my time at Ripon flew by, I’m now coming to believe my years as a student in Madison will be flying by even faster. I formed many friendships with fellow students, and now many of us have gone our separate ways for the duration of summer. Three weeks are already over! Some of my peers are doing research, others working in clinics and hospitals, and a few have even left the country to get experience abroad. I’m certain the end of August will be a joyful time as we reunite for another long yet short year of coursework together.

As for my summer, working at the clinic has been going very well thus far. I was able to assist doctors in surgery this past week as they performed some orthopedic work on several patients. I have met up with many clients I knew from old jobs or even school, so it has been quite interesting catching up with people I have not seen for many years. Fortunately there have not been too many emergencies in my first two weeks, so my transition has been nearly flawless. The hospital has trained me on many aspects of the business already and, as such, I am something of a fill-in wherever there is help needed. Undoubtedly this will be immensely helpful later on as I will have a great grasp of a full-functioning clinic.

The consistent rain has been great for my various outdoor work as well. Green grass is always a good sign to keep clients happy on that front. I was able to get a full garden planted at the end of May, and the spaced out rain has been very helpful in getting it off to a great start. I am also working at a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in some of my off-time at a farm not far from town. We planted several hundred tomato plants over the weekend. I cannot wait for the harvest! My roommate thought I brought back a lot of produce last fall – let’s just wait for 2014; knock on wood.

As my post-Ripon writing comes to an end, I would like to thank you for reading my blog this past year. Try to make it back to Ripon for some events soon, and do me another favor: give one of your old Ripon friends a call, I know they would love to hear from you.

Enjoy summer and the heat – winter is not far off!

Kyle Ruedinger ’13
[email protected]

Posted June 15, 2014 in Alumni.

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