Applying to college was an incredibly daunting task. Having a sister who attends Princeton University, I had huge shoes to fill, whether people wanted to admit it or not. As I grew up, college was never an idea that seemed out of reach. My mom always told me about it like it was mandatory. When I got into high school and attended classes where college was taught as a “bad idea,” I was stunned. I couldn’t wrap my head around how something preached at me so much as a child could possibly be bad. I started talking around to different students in these classes as I was finishing my college applications and I was very upset with what I found. I encountered many students that believed they weren’t smart enough for college. When I asked them who told them these things, I was given answers that should not have even been options at all, but have become commonplace in my community: parents and teachers. This simply disgusts me. These are the people that society says we should depend on for all the help we need. Our heroes and mentors should not be feeding us negativity like this. Once I thought about it, it didn’t seem so far-fetched to me. I faced the same negativity from my school system. I wasn’t exactly told I wasn’t smart enough for college, but I was given a lot of feedback implying I wasn’t smart enough to get where I wanted to study. I had numerous people tell me these things.

“Breanna, maybe you need to set your standards a little lower.” “Don’t you think that’s a little out of reach?” “You? At that school?” “People don’t leave Gaffney; your sister was only the exception to that rule.” “You couldn’t possibly think you’d make it there, could you?”

Couldn’t. 

I “couldn’t” leave my hometown, because people in my town don't leave. I “couldn’t” even dream of getting accepted into my dream schools. I “couldn’t” escape the life that people in my town deemed as my fate. I heard this from teachers, from guidance counselors. People who are supposed to encourage you, even when your ideas may be a little out of reach. Constantly demeaning students and telling them that they aren’t good enough to do anything with their lives isn’t acceptable. I know from personal experience that it tore down my self-esteem. In my application process, I may have had four teachers that supported my decisions and were positive towards me. The exhaustion of applying to colleges made me want to give up, and I almost did a couple times. I was so fed up with people telling me that my dreams were out of reach. I was so tempted to just go and live off what I could earn with a high school degree because I honestly felt that I’d be happier that way.

But you know what?

I left my hometown. I’m all the way across the country. I even got a shout-out from my principal during graduation because I left for a school so far away. I got accepted into one of my dream schools, one that so many of my faculty and staff told me was out of reach. And I’m doing great here. There’s no other school I’d rather be at. I’m here and I’m fighting for the education and opportunities that I deserve. Opportunities that I now know I’m capable of. I’m making great strides towards creating a life for myself outside of Gaffney, something I was told just wasn’t possible for me. I just “couldn’t” do it.

Maybe they were right in a sense. I don’t know how I got here. My test scores are mediocre in comparison to my classmates. I didn’t have half the AP or IB credit courses available to me that my acquaintances had. I haven’t done anything outstanding. Maybe my hopes were a little high. Maybe I was being unrealistic. Maybe, just maybe I was out of my league. I don’t believe for a minute though that this didn’t happen for a reason. Whatever it is, I deserve to be here. Crazy things happen. I’m forever grateful to CC for giving me this opportunity and I know for a fact that if I hadn’t been a little “irrational” or “unrealistic” during my application process, I wouldn’t be here. If I listened to the negativity that I was surrounded with, this amazing future that I’m building for myself “couldn’t” exist.

Couldn’t.

Screw the people who use that word. To the kids that “couldn’t” make it into college even if they tried, prove them wrong. For the kids that “couldn’t” escape their surroundings because you aren’t smart enough or any other dumb excuse that someone in your life gave you, get the heck out of there and make them see that you are way more than a stigma they put on you. Work your hardest and show them that they were wrong about you. I know with every fiber in my being that kids in my town have incredible potential. There are so many options for you guys and I wish that educational figures helped you see them rather than telling you that U of SC or Clemson are all you’re worth (not that those schools aren’t viable options, but you have SO many other schools out there that would love to have you). You guys could change the world. That statement goes for all the kids out there reading this. You’re worth so much and you’re so incredible. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

To the kids that were told you “couldn’t," YOU CAN.