We counted three marriages, three babies, three graduate degrees (plus one in the process), two homeowners, one big move to Seattle, another to Texas and at least one trip to Brazil.

It has not been a quiet four years.

Since the Sun Journal stopped following the original 15 students in our “Following the Freshmen” series in 2009, bringing to a close our four-year college project, they’ve established interesting lives, careers and pursuits. And gained a lot of perspective on the value of their educations.

We were able to catch up with 11 former freshmen and quizzed them about life, college and future goals, and how school played into all of it.

In many, many ways, the journey continues.