Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I had been exposed to a common ideology that has been reverberated across my home county during its existence. Conservative principles are preached within all corners of the county from the more urban areas where I grew up to the rural farm sectors out in Old Church consistently ranking Hanover County one of the most conservative counties in the nation as demonstrated by the counties voting history.

In this environment during my childhood, I was exposed to these principles in every aspect of my life as I even attended a middle school named Stonewall Jackson Middle School and a high school named Lee-Davis High School.

I even vividly remember having an election in the fifth grade when Obama was running against McCain and being a main advocate for John McCain even though Obama was able to appeal more to my former classmates who were also only around 11-years-old.

Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the President of the United States on June 15th, 2015 and my support was instantaneous. He had the New York personality and conservative views exactly as my entire family had. His charisma and appeal was something I had never seen in politics and the doubt and hate he received forced me to support him just that much more.

Through the debates, primaries, the main election, and everything in between, I rode around in my 2000 Ford F-150 repping my “Make America Great Again” sticker and frequently debated many topics throughout social media and in my classes.

But, what other sticker did I have on the back of my truck? The big orange ‘V’ with two crossing sabers representing my future matriculation into the University of Virginia.

I knew college campuses tended to preach liberal ideology and single-minded thought as I had seen with other family members and close friends who had fallen into the trap.

Although I was aware of this, I was still skeptical of exactly how the process began.

My first year of college, I hadn’t noticed too much of this forced liberalism that I had expected and heard of prior to my acceptance.

However, my second year proved to be much different.

Following the Charlottesville riots where white supremacists stormed the surrounding areas and even the campus, many members of the university chose this opportunity to condemn conservative ideology and the party as a whole.

This was blatant with the protests of the Thomas Jefferson statue that stands in front of the rotunda claiming those with views opposite to them were racists, rapists, and supported the Nazis that stormed the campus.

Clearly, this was incredibly offensive to myself as well as my friends and classmates who also shared the same political views. Never was there a statement to denounce these accusations or verbal attacks which made it obvious to me that this method of polarization is acceptable which even further confirmed my belief that many colleges preach this idea of inclusive thought of acceptance and diversity while continuing to ostracize those who don’t think just like them.

Backwards? I think so.

Being in college has highlighted these difficulties and challenges of being a conservative on a college campus, but has not in any way skewed my views that I have held since I was a child.

In my personal opinion, this system of exclusion of those with differing ideologies has created a paradoxical situation that is doing just the opposite of what these campuses are trying to accomplish. If the ultimate goal is to have people think the same ways, the methods I have seen are not the correct procedures.

I encourage people to continue to think for themselves and form their own opinions rather than just jumping onto an ideology that is made to come off as the only ethical way to believe.

It is often difficult being seen as some horrific person for supporting the president or being critical of certain progressive ideologies, but these experiences have solidified my views more than ever.