My dad has always told me, "Never forget where you've came from." His voice has been in the back of my head ever since I've started college. As a member of the 170 students in my graduating class, 30,000 university students was an entirely different culture. I surprisingly transitioned smoothly into college and fell in love with it from the first day.
I loved the big school scene, the downtown feel, and the enormous student body community I had adapted to. As I was getting into the swing of things, I started to notice how diverse my classmates' backgrounds were from mine. We were all raised in different towns, and they all hold different strengths and values that I had never seen before. As a junior in college, my dad's voice still rings in my ears anytime I realize the experience and skills that I have been taught by being raised in a small town.
Opportunity
Coming from a small town has given me opportunities that led me to be goal-driven and gave me experience before entering college. When you live in a small town, it's a tight-knit group of community that knows one another and networks between each other. By the time I went off to college, I had a lot of experience under my belt in different jobs and volunteer positions that helped me start to mold my path into the direction I was taking my career after high school. Small town organizations, clubs, and sports also gave me the opportunity to work with a small team while gaining essential interpersonal and collaborative skills.
Everyone knew each other, and everyone had a personal relationship with one another. Each organization was a family, and the opportunity to learn to work together was an amazing perk that I should never take for granted. When it comes to group projects and becoming part of organizations on my college campus, I have realized that what I learned in my hometown helps me tremendously when working together in groups.
Leadership
When you take advantage of your opportunities, you become a leader. The clubs you joined as a timid 14-year-old turn you into a determined, hardworking individual you never thought you could be. Becoming an effective leader is an asset not a lot of people posses. When you're in a small town, you get to know everyone around you day in and day out for 18 years. You know people's strengths and weaknesses, this leads you to understand how each individual works, and you soon find ways to lead diverse individuals on the same path to success. In college, I took advantage of my leadership skills and became a leader.
The Small Town Feel
Being from a small town is something you definitely take for granted while growing. The Friday night football games, the school dances, and even the small festivals your town has are unique to you and your community. Only the people that are from the town know how special the traditions and values that the town holds are to the community. The respect and social skills you see aren't noticed until you move to a different, much larger town and realize that not everyone is as nice as you think they will be. The social skills and respect I learned helped me transition into college and develop diverse relationships within my college community.
As I grow older, I have become conscious of who I am and how much I have been impacted by how I was raised and the experiences that came along with it. No matter where I go in this world, I will never forget where I came from.
