When I was eight years old in second grade, I aspired to be a second grade teacher. At the time of having this thought, I wanted to go into teaching.

Now I am 24 years old, and I graduated with a bachelor of science in general studies. I no longer think of wanting to teach, but now I aspire to be a social worker.

There is a great difference from 16 years, but also a greater difference from five years of college. Before I went to meet the academic dean, when I find out from my mom how I could graduate with a degree in general studies, I was thinking “no way would that be possible.” At the time, I felt that graduating after failing statistics was an easy way out. It didn’t feel right, not when I had completed part of my internship and wrote a 24-page research proposal for a thesis I would be conducting a study on in the next semester. Regardless of how I wanted to have a feeling of accomplishment after a pretty rocky couple of years, I eventually came to a decision that ends up being better for me on an emotional level.

From the moment I visited St. Joseph’s College in February 2010, I knew that was going to be the school for me. It is a small school and it would be easiest for me to transverse around campus whenever I am there. Of course it was risky to only choose one college to apply to in my senior year of high school, but I don’t regret it. I was not ready to have the dorm experience, even if I did express a few times that I wanted to live in a dorm. Obviously, I applied for a few other colleges as backup options in case it did not work out; it did work out and caught me by surprise when I got the acceptance letter in February 2011.

In the five years I have attended St. Joseph’s College, it was a life changing journey of my life. Imagine a trail mix of emotions, that’s how it was: in sickness, in joy, in accomplishment, in loss, in regret, in confusion, in failure, and in death. In five years, I’ve gotten a stomach flu, vacationed in Italy, lost my home from Hurricane Sandy, moved into an inaccessible rental house, fractured three toes, moved back home, changed majors often, figured what I am meant to be, grieved the death of Gram, and starting a new organization. It may seem pretty crazy, and it is, but the biggest lesson I’ve learned from five years in college is the fact that it is not a race to get a degree. It will definitely take time, it has taken a long time and acquiring too many credits for me to accept that enough is enough.

In five years, I have acquired many lessons. These lessons helped to shape the person I am today, and how I may branch out in the coming future. Some of the lessons are:

1. Being happy with a major

It’s no secret that like almost every college student, I switched majors too often. I initially went into college interested with the idea of going into criminal justice due to an interest from forensics in high school. After a medical leave in what was to be my second semester of college, I changed my major to accounting. I nearly failed because it was too difficult and I did not want to think of it after finding out of that. Ironically, I do think of some aspects of accounting now as I am currently working a part-time job as a billing assistant at my sister Marie’s private practice.

My next major was computer information systems. Unfortunately this was a major I settled in for too long to the point where it took failing an advanced database class for me to think “what am I doing this for while I do not have the passion for this?” I finally made a final change of major to sociology and I haven’t regretted it since as it was a major I felt truly happy with, knew where my passion is, and I listened to what I want.

2. Settling on my major

There was a major in between my flip flop when I got too settled before realizing that this major wasn’t going to benefit me in the long run. Despite how I am known to be a techie in the family, I went into computer information systems in hopes to possibly obtain new skills and work in information technology. That major is unlike what I was hoping for and instead of obtaining new skills, a few semesters of settling was entirely focused on programming. Regardless of how I asked my professors and went to the math lab as often as possible, I still could not grasp the information. I let settling on computer information systems go on for too long to the point where it was truly stressful and thought of what am I really going to do.

3. Finding a niche

When I first started college, I got the typical “get involved as much as possible.” This was something that I disregarded for a few years, even with trying a few different clubs where my interested may be. I learned that I was a leader, and I always thought that I am always a follower; it took being inducted in the National Society of Leadership and Success, and trying Student Leadership Experience for a semester to learn that. Not only did I find my niche from learning that I am a leader, but also from establishing a new organization: Individual Needs Network (INN for short).

The Individual Needs Network is an organization that focuses on opening minds to meeting the physical, educational, social, and emotional needs and to support inclusion for everyone. Although it was only the INN’s first year, I was determined to help create a more inclusive environment so nobody would feel left out. To the executives who couldn't be at the party to celebrate with me and who was part of the INN’s first year, thank you for your hard work to make the INN happen. I do hope that, even when we are not at St. Joseph’s College anymore, the INN is becoming successful in starting its second year as an active organization.

4. Trusting too much and trusting too little

This was probably the most difficult lesson to learn in my five years at St. Joseph’s College. This is most difficult because I had to learn that not everyone is going to be friends and they were not always going to be most supportive. During the time I was on a leave of absence and when hurricane Sandy happened, it was really lonely and extremely hard to get used to that fact. No matter what had happened when I was gone/out of it, everyone had already found something to cling to whether it is a club or Greek life. During the most difficult times, I’ve found myself to trust the people who I am most closest to, who I love, despite tough situations getting in the way, and who I miss dearly—my family and friends. In ending this, I know that you all will always be there no matter what I am doing next or where I am going.