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Mission 100 Days: Today For You, Tomorrow For Me

Lio Salazar

Updated: 11 hours ago

By Lio Salazar, Senior Contributor


It’d be too cliche to say that “there aren’t enough words” to describe my time here at Canisius. Funnily enough, I found them.


“How did you end up at Canisius?” 

Well, I looked for schools with my initial major – zoology – or anything closely related and that was within my mother’s comfort zone of distance from home. “As far north as Maine, south as Florida, and west as Indiana,” she’d say. I applied to the schools I found in that range, got accepted here and there, and then being a “Golden Griffin” for the rest of my life sounded way better than being a Delaware Valley University “Aggie” when it came down to final choices.


“Do you have any regrets since you’ve been here?”

Yeah, don’t rollerblade if you ‘think’ you’re good at it.


“Are you sad to be leaving?”

Next question.


I mean, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on time when I first started college, and I also thought I had a pretty good grasp on who I was going to be once I finished college. I found a group of people in my first week here and was really happy to find friendships within that community. I didn’t know how often I would enter a new circle, cultivate existing ones or even witness circles crumble to bits. I found various clubs and organizations around campus that I was incredibly passionate about, and I was able to grow into different aspects of myself within this itty-bitty college campus. I found numerous jobs that allowed me to reach so many different students and their families – alumni and prospective alike – and I got an even broader scope of Canisius as a whole, rather than the fraction of time that I’ve actually been here.


I didn’t know just how involved in campus life I was going to be: Admissions Student Ambassador and social media team member; acted in six LT shows to date – costumed ten, sound designed three; held three separate positions in Unity, including president; helped start a club or two; wrote random pieces for the coolest newspaper on this side of the Mississippi; and laying on Nikki Middleton’s floor when my back hurts, like I am now. Somehow, through all of that work, grind, sleep and lack thereof, I found bits that I liked, loved, didn’t care for or had to say goodbye to. I laid them out on a table at a beach, and began assembling something new out of that. 


And here we are, almost one hundred days before the class of ‘25 deuces out of Canisius for the last time. 


I always knew that “leaving” Canisius was inevitable; I just didn’t think it was going to happen so fast. Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping a list of “last firsts” I’ve been having recently: last first day of New Griff Orientation that I get to work, last first day of classes, last first time getting kicked out of the library because I forgot they close early. But hey, it’s totally fine to let yourself get caught up in the small moments. Soon, there’s going to be a time when you won’t even realize the small moments were what made a lot of the big moments digestible, or even better. We started at this place for magic, or whatever Nicole Kidman said. But the friendship, the work, the passion, that’s true magic. We made that from seemingly nothing after COVID. 


As an old friend of mine, this paper, and this institution once said, a Canisius education “is compassionate and whole,” and she was right, but it’s also more than just the education here; the people made it all the better. Surround yourself with people you love and do something your younger self could only dream of doing. It’s not really leaving, because my memories are still here. That cat puzzle in the library, Kyra Laurie’s comedy routine, leaving Marie Maday way past midnight. Those – and so many other memories – are what make me wholly me, and what a holy me I am – an identity so undeniable and persistent that there’s no erasing it. 


Canisius was never the finish line or the final boss level – it was always my starting point. I’ve said multiple times that [redacted Pennsylvania town] is where I exist, but Buffalo is where I live, and I’m ready to keep living. 


Always and forever.

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