I'm glad we've hit the point where we realize that a college degree is not meaningful to everyone, and that's okay!

In fact, some of my most favorite people never finished college, and I applaud them for going full force at their careers that did not require a degree.

However, college was always something that I was passionate about. Not just for the education, although that was a huge deciding factor, but for the experience as well. I know what most of you are probably thinking, "college is solely based on the education factor".

See, this is where I beg to differ.

When I was choosing the college that made me the happiest and where I could see myself most fit, I knew that whatever that placed looked like or where it was, that I was going to become who I had always wanted to be there.

I knew that I wanted to move away from home, and allow the distance to stretch me farther than I had ever been before.

And, that is exactly what happened.

While I might have not made a 4.0 ever semester like my teenage ignorance believed I would, I have found the most independent side of me that never would have flourished if I would have stayed within the confines of my comfort zone.

I joined a sorority, was on its executive board, was on the campuses largest philanthropic organizations executive board for 2 years in a row, lead a Bible study, and met people that I never would have even thought about reaching out to in my early stages of freshman year.

While my focus was on the education factor and will always remain, the experiences that I have encountered and the friendships that I let my self fall into will forever be the part that I cherish the most.

So, mom and dad, when your son or daughter is scouting out the campus of their dreams, take not only their educational potential into consideration but their personal potential as well.

We are what we experience, and college has shaped me into the woman that God always intended me to be.

It might have taken a little push, but now more than ever, I realize that college is a season of good and bad and a season where your character is truly formed.

Let yourself embrace those moments, and I mean fully embrace those moments.

You are what you experience, and college is yet a reminder of this.