When the idea of attending a community college was first introduced to me, I was wary. I was already young going into my classes, and I was under the impression that community colleges contained older students who already had jobs, families, and were at a completely different stage of life than me. I weighed my options and came to the conclusion that spending my first two years there would be in my best interest financially, time-wise, and locationally.
In addition to my first concern, I was nervous about the difficulty of classes, wondering if they would truly challenge me enough to prepare me for a university's junior and senior-level classes. All of my worries could not have been further from the truth, with the courses and students alike far surpassing my expectations. Although community college might not be the right choice for everyone, the lessons I learned while attending courses there are unforgettable. I do not regret a day spent within those walls.
I was right about the higher number of non-traditional students on campus. What I didn't expect would happen were the lessons I learned from their past experiences and the relationships I built with them. These adults were not attending community college for some result of a flaw, but rather for self-improvement, self-fulfillment, and in order to create better lives for themselves and their families. Their intentions were certainly more noble than my reasons for going to college, which primarily consisted of the fear that I would be unable to acquire a job without a degree, and a lack of ideas for what else I could do with my time in the absence of pursuing a higher education.
One young man told me that he was the first in his family to go to college and that they were pressuring him to drop out, as they saw no need for education past the high school level. He paid their bills, paid for his college, and admitted to couch surfing more often than not. He was getting A's in his classes.
One woman was pursuing her American Sign Language certification, though she had no intention of ever becoming an interpreter or teacher. Her newborn son had recently been diagnosed as deaf and she said she never wanted him to feel like he couldn't communicate with her, whether it be for lingual or emotional barriers. She wanted to learn sign language before he could ever feel like there was something different.
One man shared with my class that he used to sell drugs and be involved in gang activity. He explained that his family stuck with him during this time, and now he was returning to school to make it up to them, to make them proud, and to do right by himself and his community.
The people I met during my time at community college taught me what hard work truly looks like, what determination is, and what it looks like to better yourself in attempts at improving the lives of those around you. I've heard negative comments towards community colleges from adults and peers, but their comments, like mine before attending, are founded in a lack of understanding. Community college not only prepared me for transferring to a four year school, but taught me lessons that I could not have learned from other freshman college students.
