Let me tell you a story of a girl who changed her major six times and transferred schools... sure this might sound awful and a little crazy. But, I am here to tell you why it is the best thing that I have ever done. No, I didn't plan to change my major so many times, it just kind of happened. In fact, every time that I sat in an advising appointment I thought to myself this is what I love, and this is what I will do. When I walked out of the advising office with all of my paperwork, each time I thought to myself... thank God I don't have to sit through that torture again... and then I would time after time.

I went into my first year of college knowing full heartedly that I wanted to be a nurse. Maybe it was because I watched too much Grey's Anatomy or maybe it's because I thought that was the best way that I could help people, but that is what my heart was set on doing. Until I got my schedule, and I completely panicked. I have never been great at math or science and when I realized that's what the next four years of my life would consist of, I switched.

I then promptly changed my major to general business because business classes were always my favorite classes in high school (just a heads up, business classes in high school are very different than business classes in college)... so why not? I liked business but I was bored out of mind in those classes, and decided that I needed to do something fun.

So, I changed my major to journalism. I loved photography and I loved to write so it sounded like the perfect job/major for me. I could travel the world and share people's photos and stories. Until I took my intro to journalism class, and I realized that journalism is moving away from traveling, magazines, newspapers, and important stories and moving more towards social media, which at the time I had very little interest in.

Well, then I decided that maybe I just needed a change of scenery to find what I loved, and to get my life back on track. So I switched schools, and switched my major back to business but this time with an emphasis in marketing. I absolutely loved it, I was going to run my own business and be my own boss. Until I realized that you can't just leave college and become your own boss. You have to start in an office and have a desk job. Which for someone as high maintenance as I am, sounded like torture. I could not picture my life as a business person and that's when I knew that it was once again time for a change, but I couldn't let my love for business go so I decided to minor.

Naturally many members of my family started to worry, they told me to find my passion and asked me to find what I love. Every single person would ask, why aren't you doing something with kids? And that's when it clicked, well duh... I've always loved kids and you can make a huge difference in a child's life by becoming an educator. So, I went back to my advisor and she had one of those looks on her faces that said: "oh no not her again." So I once again switched, this time to Early Childhood Education, which at the time was my school's only option to have a career working with children... I partially enjoyed it for a semester, but I was constantly searching for a better Elementary Education program at other schools and within my own.

After talking with advisor after advisor I discovered that my university was in the process of starting and Inclusive elementary education degree, where you major in ELEM and are endorsed in both special education and ELL. After waiting for almost a year for the program to be approved, I fell in love after the very first class I took. Learning from professors who were/are elementary educators was so valuable. Being able to observe and work in classrooms and really know what it takes to be a teacher made me love it so much more. I know that I have found my passion and I know that I found a career where I will not have to sit at a desk, where every day will be an adventure, and everyday I will be helping those who need it the most.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is at 18 years old it's really hard to decide what you want to do with your forever. Take my story, and do with it what you will, learn from it, laugh at it, panic about it. I promise you, that if you are willing to take risks and you try out everything or even just a few things, you will find your passion and you will find what you love. So please promise me that you will never settle for anything less? because after all you only get one forever, and everyone deserves to find their passion.

Six major changes and two schools later, I am finally happy. So maybe the sixth time is a charm?