In the college spirit...I wanted to share a very intimate experience with you all. Although, I let you all in on a very vulnerable piece of my college journey, the point is to encourage someone with this real and raw experience. Growing up in a very low and poverty striven neighborhood, things are not the best. So naturally, I attended schools that were low in performance and had very little resources compared to other Chicago areas. I grew up in the same surrounding areas that my mom grew up in so her education and experiences wasn't far from mine, concerning education. Going away to college really allowed me the first real look in education in it's entirety. It pretty much offended me and everyone "seemed" to be well educated and had been exposed to very different worlds. So, they walked around with way more confidence than I did. I was scared to death it made me feel very uncomfortable and feel inadequate in a lot of areas in my life. It was parts of me that wanted to crawl back into the over assigned dorm room and just lay in bed. I mean who was I fooling, this young black girl from Englewood, on the south side of Chicago with a schedule full of classes, with broken English, not comfortable or confident to hold a conversation long enough to share the embarrassing background everyone else was singing about. I can remember being in a room full of people and listening to my professor teach things I had no idea they existed. One in particular was my English 101 class, we were asked to bring in a disc to learn how to format and save documents onto. Here we are sitting in class and...what did I pull out a CD instead of a floppy disc. Talking about being embarrassed to the core. I had to be honest with my professor and tell her I had no idea what she was referring to in the syllabus, NOT, who was I fooling, after class I told her I had forgotten it and would bring it to the next class. I was devastated and cried all the way back to the dorm and buried my head into my pillow and cried, cried, and cried. I could have given up, determined to not melt into the hard streets I had survived, I went to the bookstore and asked for help, and returned to class ready to pick up where I left off. Now, imagine that was just the beginning, there were so many other situations that broke me down and I had to persevere and keep pushing forward. I was tutored for most of my college years, and things began to change for me the moment I allowed my roommates in. One roommate, would type and edit all my papers, another one would be up with me til the crack of dawn helping me study, another would meet me in between classes to check on me, they all would go shopping with me and was determined to get me out of my Jordan's and baggy clothes, while all doing my hair and make-up. It was during those moments that something happened, something began to change...it was exposure. Looking back, I was so blessed to have been surrounded by open minded individuals who were very different and all had something different to offer me. Don't be fooled I had many moments I wanted to revert back to what I was comfortable with, but my surroundings wouldn't allow me and continued to pull me out of my shell. This transformed my mind to not be intimidated by the world but live in it. So, today I want to encourage you all to not allow what you don't know be an excuse to not go away to college, but use it as fuel to become who you were born to be. Trust in the process with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge GOD, and HE will straighten your paths in the world. Oh and one more thing, I am going to faint if I hear another person say" College isn't for everyone" um excuse me, learning IS for everyone!
P.S. I LOVE COLLEGE
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