If you ask someone who went Greek, they’ll say that it was the best decision of their life. The same can’t necessarily be said for me. Now don’t get me wrong, going Greek was an amazing decision and I’m so happy to be a part of my chapter and the Greek system at my school. But the best decision I ever made happened in high school.
I’m originally from a small town in Connecticut. The median income was 35,000 a year. So for a so-called rich state, Bristol wasn’t the greatest of areas to be in. I was 13 when I moved to Arizona. I started high school without knowing anyone at all. Arizona itself was a major culture shock to experience. I went from a huge expanse of forest and trees and humidity to summers that can reach up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. You can sort of guess why I decided to go to a college that was in the mountains.
In Connecticut, I had grown up with the same group of people for 13 years of my life. I had been known as the same person that I was when I was five until I was 13 and to this day I still kind of experience it with people I knew growing up. But when I moved 3,000 miles away from home to a much larger town with people I had never met before, I had a chance to make a new impression. I had a chance to dictate how I was going to be seen by people for a long time. When I went to choose courses for my freshman year, I chose classes that I would’ve chosen back home, band, first-year Spanish and the typical core classes, but I was faced with an empty time slot for one of the classes. I decided to just go off of a whim and signed up for drama class.
Now mind this, I was the shyest person anyone could ever know. I didn’t say anything to anyone and I didn’t talk loudly at all when I was called on. Drama was a major turning point in my life. I met the best group of people and the people who would have the biggest impact on my life just by joining that class. Over the next few years, I grew as a person and if I had been back in Connecticut, I never would’ve been the girl that goes through recruitment or the girl who takes a chance on an internship.
The phrase, “The smallest things have the biggest impact,” definitely rings true. A small decision you make or a choice to try something new can be the best decision you make in your life. While some of the things that I went through in high school weren’t the greatest, I would never change them for anything. One small decision to take a class I didn’t feel I would be particularly good at, ended up making me the person that I am.
