Personal Narrative: Moving To A New College

Returning to college, after graduating high school twenty-five years earlier, proved to be not only rewarding quite challenging as well. Viewing myself as a self-starter with extensive investigative skills I truly believed college path mapped out correctly, so I never met with an advisor, what a colossal mistake! I had self-scheduled all my courses and although I faced a few obstacles I was finally at the end. After completion of all my pre-requisites I applied to the LPN-RN Fast Track Program, little did I know my past would stop me dead in my tracks.

Coming to school every day as a tenth grader was exciting, but it can get very annoying at times. I had to overcome many challenges to make it this far. Generally, freshman year was a year of change. One of the greatest things I learned as I reached sophomore year, was not to procrastinate.

Midway into my sophomore year of high school is when I learned that my family will be moving to Massachusetts due to my father’s job relocation. At first, I was set to move to Massachusetts with my family, which meant transferring to my third high school in three years and having to switch to a different club soccer team during the most important year of recruiting for college soccer. Then, an opportunity was presented to me in which I would be able to stay at my current high school and my current soccer team. The opportunity being that I would stay with a close family friend who attended the same school and plays for the same soccer team, but in exchange I would have to leave my mother and father for the next two years of my life. My family and I thoroughly discussed the plan and after many heated arguments and fights, we finally decided that I would stay behind and stay with the Williams family for the next two years of my life. This life changing opportunity has slowly but surely helped me transition from a child into a young adult.

I am reaching out to you as my second to last resort option. As I have tried to already reach out to other people in your office for help in this matter with no help or advice other then what I have already done and that’s was that. So if I am not able to resolve this matter with or get a better understanding with it I may just have to take it to the governor. I am completely lost and confused about the whole graduation requirements and how it’s such a blurry line for transfer students from one community college to another. There is no clear cut guidance and support with nobody in counseling or administration or registration on the same page on what the student needs to do in order to graduate so the student is left to fend for them self’s.

On August 13th, 2016 my family and I started a new life. We were forced to relocate from Southern California to Prosper, Texas for my dad’s job. When I moved I knew absolutely no one. It was extremely hard to move away from my people that I have been friends with for almost my whole life. It was even harder to say goodbye to my grandma and my brothers. Finding new friends and adjusting to a new city in a new state was very difficult. On the first day of school, I was extremely nervous, because I didn’t know anyone.

Entering a Liberal Arts College I knew was different than that of other colleges, but I didn’t fully understand the difference. My mom attended BC, so I knew that there was going to be a lot of classes I needed to take that would not involve my major. This was scary entering college because I didn’t know what to expect in these classes since they weren’t my strong point. According to the Bridgewater website about Academic Citizenship as a student I am supposed to, “Through the Academic Citizenship program, BC is increasing conversations about a wide variety of issues. Engage in your education. Take advantage of an academic community filled with different perspectives. And prepare to be a better citizen of the global community”. The first course

Tumultuous is the word I would use to describe my personal transition to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Maybe tumultuous exaggerates my experience slightly, but I did endure my fair share of highs and lows. I was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin which is about three hours from Eau Claire. As much as I thought I was prepared to leave the safety of home behind, I soon realized that my sense of security was false. It was probably week five that I had a little meltdown; I seriously questioned whether I wanted to be at Eau Claire or not. I’m an English Education major and examining the Appleton Area School District, and surrounding communities reveal that many of the educators in my desired teaching area graduated from Oshkosh. I

Entering community college with little programming experience, I was eager to learn. I registered for my first programming class excited, with a fresh mind. My professor introduced the class to our first program, "Hello World." Instantly, I was hooked. As I uncovered the complexities of problem-solving and the importance of proper syntax, my love grew stronger. Eventually, with experience in C++ and JAVA, another professor presented a life changing opportunity to me.

In 2014 when I decided to go back to my local community college I was told that I would have to retake my math class. My goal was to pass this class and to be able to move forward in my studies. This is something that was very hard for me to complete when it was placed in front of me because it was by far my weakest subject in high school without a doubt and that was back in 2008 when it was somewhat fresh on my mind. This was now six years later and to be honest I really had no idea how I was going to complete this class. Which made me feel very defeated I felt as if there was no one for me to move forward because of the roadblock.

Coming to college is hard. You have to keep your grades up through 13 years of public education. You also should obtain a car to get from point A to point B. This also requires having a job to keep the car fueled and money in your pocket to live off of. Motivation is also a tricky thing to pin down. It seems to appear when you don’t need it, and then just vanish when you need it the most. And organizational skills, what are those? These are some of the challenges I faced when deciding to go to college.

I will never forget the first time I came across the University of Maryland. My family had recently moved to Hyattsville and we were driving past campus. I found myself in awe of the immensity of the campus. I observed students walking by, blissful with life and their bright futures ahead; I knew in that moment that this was where I wanted to be. Maryland has been my dream school for as long as I can remember and this is the reason I aspire in transferring.

After waiting eight extensive years in elementary school and middle school, I was finally going to go to a new high school. I felt extremely scared, it felt as if I actually had butterflies in my stomach. I was excited to go to the large new building but it almost looked too big.

Walking to the principal's office. Hands sweating, really nervous. I open the door. The door slowly creaked open and I walk in the sweet smell of flowers hits me and I sit down. Different thoughts raced through my mind. What was going to happen? Was I going to get in trouble?

Working your way through college can be a daunting journey to say the least. There have been a myriad of challenges to overcome, both foreseen and unexpected. A year and half ago I decided to follow my dream of moving to California and obtaining a degree in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. The decision to follow my passion for science invoked both fear and excitement within myself. I didn’t have the support of many friends and family, as I am originally from the East Coast, many of them seen my moving to California as an unrealistic and unnecessary goal. Despite my own self-doubts and the discouragement of my family I made the decision to relocate to California. That decision manifested the most significant chapter in my life to date. In an extremely short period of time I had to find an apartment, in the Bay Area, one of the most competitive and costly rental markets in the country as well as enroll in school, apply for aid and secure stable

Imagine, you’re enjoying your life, you are contented and you are together with your family where you live and all together with your friends in your school staying serene. Suddenly, one day you just heard your parents saying that you’ll move to another country, transfer to a new school, and leave your friends and other family members. Wouldn’t you be so upset because you’re leaving, and at the same time you’d be afraid and worried for the reason that you have to leave, learn that country’s language in order to transfer to a new school. My goal now is to learn everything I have to know that I’ll possibly go through in my life there.