I wasn’t the best student in high school. I had average grades and I didn’t really try all that hard to do well. I guess I just didn’t want to be there, even though it was required. Only the classes that I truly loved, did I excel.

Fast forward a few years – I’m in my local community college and I am flying. Going to college was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made that mattered. I was doing so well and I’ve been on multiple Dean’s and Honors lists every semester since I began. I’ve been invited and accepted into numerous honor societies. This was something that I never imagined myself doing – not even in my wildest dreams. My parents were even surprised with how well I’m doing in college – and that’s saying something. They told me that they couldn’t believe how successful I’ve become because of how subpar I was in high school. And I tell them, Yes! Because I am free to explore my interests! I can choose what I want to study! I get to pick interesting classes! I am free!

Don’t get me wrong, my high school and even my middle school teachers prepared me for college in so many ways. They treated me like I was a scholar; like I was intelligent and that my input mattered. My social studies teacher taught me how to organize my thoughts and information into an outline for a research paper – a method that I use to this day. He taught me how to think critically about controversial and historical issues. He taught me how to debate. My language arts teacher taught me how to believe in myself and my writing. She is still one of the most supportive people that I know. I’ll never be able to thank them enough for how much I learned from them.

In high school, it wasn’t really until my senior year that I started to make an effort. I can count on one hand the teachers that really left an impression (okay, maybe more than just one hand if I list every single one of my Spanish teachers who ROCKED). I’m not good at math by a long shot, but I have to mention my senior year algebra teacher because he always made sure my class understood what he was teaching. He was definitely a little eccentric, but he was always in the classroom after school so if we needed any help, he would be there. I’m not going to lie to you, I went to every single one of those tutorials after class. Every day. And it helped. He knew I was making an effort and that I was trying my hardest, and it paid off because I didn’t fail! I think I actually might have gotten a B in that class. The other class that had the most impact on me was an English class called Honors Imaginative Process; a creative writing class. Up until senior year, all I had ever taken were boring, core requirements. This class really opened my eyes to the possibilities and options that I had never previously considered. I wrote some of my best poetry and short stories in this class. My teacher was the coolest woman in that entire 5,000-person school. She gave such honest critiques and she took a genuine interest in every single one of her students. She gave me the confidence to continue writing fiction and the encouragement to start to figure myself out as a human and what kind of person I wanted to become.

Now, in college, this is where the cool stuff happens. I’m not an English or Writing major by any means, but the two classes I’ve taken that left the biggest impressions were both English Composition. The first I took my second semester – I had taken those really lame Eng. Comp. courses that we’re required to take to get our Associate’s but this one was titled “American Horrors”. This was a “Special Topics” course but man, was it awesome. This class required us to read literature from Edgar Allen Poe, Ray Bradbury, Ambrose Pierce, H.G. Wells, and Richard Connell. No class I had ever taken was as interesting as this one. The literature I was required to read had always been sort of dry, uninteresting, and soul-sucking. This class got me excited to read for homework. I looked forward to analyzing these stories and having a discussion about it the next day. Whenever I talk to someone still at that community college, I strongly recommend that they schedule that course. The second class that I’m grateful I took was Short Story. This one was a creative writing class but it was writing about whatever we wanted to write about, and it was rewarding. Ever since I took HIP in high school, I hadn’t really had the chance to write short stories and this class gave me a reason and an outlet to start again. My professor was also a really smart woman and with her lectures, comments, and critiques, I became a much better writer.

This wasn’t necessarily an article I planned to write, but it was something I had been meaning to write for years – not for anyone to read, but more just for myself to put into words. Education is very important to me and it gets me heated when I see people not taking it seriously or wasting their money and time doing things that won’t help them in the long-run. I want people to get the most out of school and I don’t think that anyone should have to sacrifice their dreams, interests, or abilities to get it. Try to find classes within your department that actually interest you. Even if you’re not an English major, take a cool literature course, or a creative writing class or even poetry! I take Sociology classes because I’m interested in the subject – I’m a Public Relations major! Getting the grades to get your degree doesn’t have to be your entire college experience – branch out, make it interesting.