The Privilege of the College Experience

The Privilege of the College Experience

At age four, I was a firewoman, fighting to save the spirits and possessions of those faced with devastation. Twelve short months later, my occupation mutated into the daring role of a policewoman working to keep the peace. Later, still devoted to the sake of betterment, I finished my fourth year of law school and took my bar exam with F. Lee Bailey and Johnny Cochran. Nothing more notorious than a thief seemed to cross my 10-year-old mind. Unpractical but whole and with an intense fancy, I lived one hundred lives. Emitting the wonders of life into the ornate dream of childhood, I sailed though the adult world as a na•ve foreigner. Inevitably, the misconceptions of childhood soon turned to red, green, yellow and orange and fell frailly from the tree of life. Now a chance for an even more colorful future has arrived: college.

As a young adult, dissecting and analyzing every feeling, occurrence, or loss that I experience, then writing about it, has become a way of life. Throughout my high school years, I have experienced many "firsts." These firsts embedded in me much more than book knowledge: the friendships, the new responsibilities, the leadership roles. The new experiences turned my fire fighting days into adulthood. However, the fire fighting skills were never lost; each childhood and adolescent lesson has kept me from falling in flames, and similar morals gained in college will fulfill the same role in my adult life. These writings that I look back on not only remind me of why I would love the privilege of gaining a degree in (field of study), but also paint a picture of a blooming thirst for challenge and a hunger for success. The privilege of the college experience is the privilege of eating from the tree of life.

Fortunately, I learned early in "law school" that love and hate have close ties. On the tree of life, good and evil grow from the same branch, and shape the world as they fall. Education is the ultimate teacher of these principles. After years of rain or shine, my childhood images remain vivid and my feelings the same, for each leaf is sprouting from that same seed of adventure - the very seed that has been nourished with experience and showered with responsibilities, and now grows with petals thirsting for the passion of their sun: college.