Yes, I know I'm a freshman. Yes, I know, not only am I a freshman, I am only a two-week-old freshman. And yes, I know I'm still absolutely ignorant about most things college-related.
But if there is one thing I have realized in the past two weeks here at the University of Montevallo, it is that learning is one of the most fantastic experiences I have ever come across. College, to me, is not simply a place to earn a sheet of paper that will give me a one-up on someone applying for a job with only a high school diploma. It is not a place to meet my future husband (even if it happens coincidentally) and get my MRS degree (which will not happen under any circumstances).
College is a place of exposure. It is a campus of not only beautifully sculpted buildings, but of professors who are experts of their practice and want to extend their knowledge and experiences to us students. My history teacher, Dr. Barone, talks a lot about becoming a scholar. He tells about the process of reading book after book and listening to lecture after lecture and putting together information in one's mind on its own terms to connect all of the information.
I can't even describe the excitement of having that sense of enlightenment when you know exactly what a professor is talking about and you can raise your hand in mention of something you read earlier that connects in some odd way to the current subject. Don't get me wrong, raising my hand for the first time made me feel more than simply exposed. My voice faltered a few times in my fifty-person sociology class while mentioning a reading about education reform. But the praise I received from my professor made up for any naked feeling I previously experienced (not to mention it was the professor I was a little terrified of on the first day).
My mind wandered a bit today in Dr. Barone's History of World Civilizations class, and I started thinking about my future education. What am I going to major in? Am I going to continue onto graduate school after my four years at Montevallo? And if I do, where will I go? Will I go to a fashion school to study what will pertain to my future career? Or will I learn to love this core education program and idea of becoming a scholar so much that I apply to an Ivy League grad school and continue what I'm enjoying so much at this moment? Will I actually fulfill my high school dream of Columbia University and study philosophy or journalism or media or public relations?
I have had this plan for the past couple of years to finish my undergrad and immediately land a job at a top fashion publication to begin working my way up to editor. I imagined myself delving into the fashion and journalism courses and getting the core studies out of the way as soon as I could to begin learning about what I will do for the rest of my life. I suppose that was before I realized my love for learning. I can't express to you guys how refreshing it is to know that I have all the time in the world to learn more and more and never stop learning! To know that I can take any path in life that I desire and make success out of it because I am dedicated and enthusiastic and passionate about living. If I can inspire any of you young people to realize anything in your coming years, I can only hope that it will be to dedicate yourself to learning in college. I know how insignificant it seems to learn the material in high school that you will forget the week after the test, but the things you learn in college, the brilliance of the professors, the lessons they teach you through their material, allow it to sink into your mind and resonate. Learn from the mistakes and successes that are pictured in history. People watch and use the theories you are taught in sociology to figure different humans out. Apply the environmental conservation ideas to your personal life and then travel the entire world to experience lives different from your own. Take the weird elective class that may not apply to your major but seems deeply fascinating because that is the class that will change your life. Take hard classes. Challenge your minds, I beg of you, because that is what will inspire you to want to change your life and other peoples' lives and the entire world and what could possibly change your entire mindset on what you want to do forever.
Please know that it is okay to not have your life figured out at 20 years old. This is not the time to have your life planned out; it is the time to absorb the knowledge that you can to make those life-altering decisions before you are forced to make them.
I tell you here and now that there is nothing more intimidating than being surrounded by a bunch of people who are ten times smarter than you. But there is nothing like the motivation to someday grow to outdo them.
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