I see my academic journey as much more than the information and skills I have acquired from the classes that I have taken. I have grown an immense amount during my college experience because of the people I have met, the way I dealt with hard situations, and the opportunities that I have been given. I chose to study International Studies when I was a senior in high school, taking a total of 44 college credits through my CAPP, AP, and Youth Options courses. I almost consider this the start of my college career. Due to the amount of credits I earned in high school, I was able to graduate in three years. (I could have done two and a half but there was a class I needed in the Spring :-)). Due to the large amount of credits that I earned in high school from my CAPP Spanish course, I decided to study Spanish because I was so close to completing a major. I am eternally grateful for making this decision because I would not have become so passionate about the Spanish language and travelling to Spanish countries. I decided to study Anthropology as my emphasis to IS because it was one of the only humanities disciplines. Although I loved my Anthropology courses, there were not many Anthropology courses that cross-listed with IS, so I changed my emphasis to Spanish Language and Culture.
I consider my college experience much different than my peers because of the little time that I spent on campus and because I started at a younger age. I would not have changed this experience at all. I owe much of my young maturity to my choice to start taking college classes at a younger age and in high school, while many students were not at this level. A lot of things that I did were outside of my comfort zone, and growth happens when humans stretch their capabilities to new lengths . I learned how to deal with what it feels like to be uncomfortable and what it is like once you realize how much you have grown because of it. I have acquired skills such as responsibility, professionalism, how to write a good paper and do research, foreign language skills, adaptability, how to work with others, leadership, technical skills, but most importantly I learned how to be an individual and embrace who I am amongst a group of other people. I confidently share different ideas with others, stand up for myself and do what is important to me. I am a strong believer that experience and making mistakes is our biggest teacher, and there is only so much can be learned within the confines of a textbook. The world is ours to explore and constantly giving us valuable life lessons.
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves" -Leo Tolstoy