<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><item href="/blog/student-life/my-college-story.html" dsn="blogs"><title>My College Story at UW</title><description>I’m graduating in the spring of 2026, which still feels surreal to say out loud. For a long time, graduation felt like some distant milestone that only existed in the future. Now it’s right in front of me. To really understand what this journey has meant to me, you have to go all the way back to 2022, when I first stepped onto campus. </description><category>Student Life</category><featuredImage><img src="/blog/_files/images/2026/college-story/grad-story.png" alt="A student walks down an isle between peers for their diploma at commencement "/></featuredImage><author>Sam W.</author><pubDate>05/05/2026 02:16:43 PM</pubDate><tags><tag>_DO NOT USE TAGS - They will be deleted!</tag></tags></item>