I can easily contest to the fact that I went into my freshman year of college aspiring to be a pediatric oncologist. By the end of the semester, I was tossing and turning at night dreading the academic probation I would quickly need to overcome in the spring semester. I felt lost and humiliated. Humiliated because I had gotten a scholarship for being a S.T.E.M major and lost because I had no idea what degree I wanted to pursue.

By the end of the spring semester, I decided on a business degree simply because that is what everyone does. I was fully registered and prepared to do whatever it takes to become a finance major. Come November, I had already been dropped from my online calculus class and was on my way to failing my other three classes. This was not good. The week before Thanksgiving I was a few seconds away from wanting to drop out of school and just continue at my sad retail job. While on a grocery run at the local Walmart; my boyfriend and I racked our brains for a degree and future career that I could succeed in. My first thought was teaching, I had considered it before but quickly turned it down for the simple facts that high schoolers are not the nicest students to be around. I decided that I wanted to pursue an English degree with a concentration in creative writing as UNT offers it and hopefully move onto a career in publishing. I also told myself that if I could not get it together and get the grades I need then this was it, I was going to either be an English major or a college dropout.

The end of the semester arrived and my life was changed. I ended my classes with a 3.75 and turned in my final portfolio with the utmost confidence that I had finally found where I belonged. I discovered an unexpected love for poetry and creative non-fiction while taking an "intro to creative writing" course. It was like coming up for fresh air. Now my only experience with creative writing was UIL in the fourth grade. One year later, I have taken intermediate poetry and non-fiction workshops and could not be happier with my decision to change my major to English. I am fully confident that this is what I am meant to do in my life and feel very enthusiastic about what my future holds.