I never thought there’d be tears.

But here they are, welling up into droplets slipping gingerly down my cheeks.

The tears are here, I think, because I’m realizing I ran my race well. They’re a celebratory release from a senior who has sprinted through his finish line.

See, every student at UT, whether he or she knows it, is running a race that’s characterized by what they make of themselves in their four years at this university.

My race started on the wrong foot, or so I thought. As a freshman, I was a turtle in his shell. Introverts don’t typically do well in large group situations, and being plopped into a group of 20,000-plus new friends didn’t help the acclimation process. This is especially true for introverts who arrive with fears and insecurities that stemmed from a roller coaster of a home life in high school.

So naturally, I bounced around in search of acceptance, things to do, people to meet.

I, like many of you reading this, was searching for purpose (i.e. my place in the world).

I found the identity I was looking for during my sophomore year at one of UT’s Christian ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ. I experienced community, fulfillment and companions I could be myself with. Moments were genuine. Friends were supportive. My guard was down.

That following summer I journeyed to Sweden for six weeks with CRU on a mission that would completely change my worldview. I shared the hope, truth and love of a relationship with Jesus Christ with Swedes who were in similar places to where I was just a year prior. I didn’t just live in my Knoxville and Chattanooga bubbles any longer, and I caught a large glimpse of just how gargantuan the world is.

Then came career blessings in the form of two internships with the Knoxville News Sentinel my junior and senior years. In my personal life, I experienced a completed family unit at home once again. I was absolutely, in the purest sense, a blessed young man.

And that’s exactly what my time at UT has been: a blessing. A compilation of laid-back Friday nights spent at home, of countless hours spent slaving over the thousands of words that were printed in an edition of The Daily Beacon and of authentic memories I’ll cherish forever.

I’m grateful for a father that believed in me and prayed over me on a constant basis, for a step-mom that loved me as her own and for siblings that continue to look to me as a mentor and spur me on to leave a legacy worth following.

I’m grateful for Beacon and Chattanooga friends that have laughed, wept, encouraged and loved me. Each of you has helped me become a better human, and for that I am so thankful.

To the misfits, to the ones who worry, to the ones who are quiet, to the ones who don’t think they’re good enough, this column is for you. From someone who struggled with all of these things during his four-year tenure as an undergrad at UT, I urge you to run your race well.

It’s never too late to start, so begin now, wherever you are; branch out of your comfort zone, make new friends, challenge your beliefs, seek truth, serve others, give of yourself, laugh, cry and, most importantly, never be content with where you are.

From the boy who, at 13 years of age, took a sharpie to an old, worn-out UT jersey and etched the words “Orange Nation” on it because he wanted to be a part of something bigger than himself, I urge you to be bold.

From the man who accomplished childhood dreams of reporting on a UT football game in Neyland Stadium, I urge you to believe in your future self.

Now do I have regrets regarding things I didn’t accomplish? Absolutely. But I’ll choose to resonate on what I did do.

Like how I left my Chattanooga home in the fall of 2010 as a child and will return there this summer as an adult before departing to Nashville for a year.

That’s why we run our race, and that’s why we attend the University of Tennessee – to sprout into strong men and women, learning from every bump, bruise, all-nighter, failed test, trial, tribulation and broken relationship.

When we push forward, we grow.

So run your race well. Reject passivity, seek truth and embrace this hallowed university – and life – for everything it offers.

Gage Arnold is a graduating senior in journalism and electronic media. He will be a member of the Nasvhille Fellows Program starting in September. He can be reached at [email protected] for about two more weeks until the university deactivates his email account (Big Orange Screw?) or followed on Twitter @GageArnold.