Enjoy the Ride by Samantha

Enjoy the Ride by Samantha - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

As an incoming high school freshman the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to not be afraid to not know all the answers about your future-and to accept that even when you think you do…you don’t. As the fresh meat of the school you want to come in acting as tough as possible, saving face and putting on a show. However it is okay to be the new kids and go through a few rough patches every now and again. Even when you accidentally get pen mark smudged on your face and someone doesn’t tell you for the next three periods, I promise you no one but you will remember after tomorrow. The biggest thing to remember is you may have a plan worked out for your life, or even just the next five years. You think you know exactly which college you and your friends are going to go to, and what job you want to have forever. I thought the same thing, until my journeys took me what seemed like five different ways and made me feel like a failure. I am here to tell you that it is perfectly okay to change your plans.

I graduated high school and went to a private University as I had always planned. I was not going to stray from my ultimate goal of going to this school and getting educated in Secondary Education with a minor in Psychology. I remember looking at all of my friends in the Business majors and thinking how boring; I could never do something like that! After a year or so I decided to change my major-due to outside influences telling me that with my lifestyle I could never afford to live on a teacher salary. Naturally I changed to nursing, as I grew up with nurses in my family…despite being woozy at the sight of blood. With no science per-requisites I then took three years of nursing courses and finally had a wake-up call that it was not what I was meant to be doing with my life. I felt as if I had wasted three years and so much money, science credits that I would never use. I eventually got my Bachelors in Sociology and never enjoyed a program more. My husband and I joke that I have the longest most expensive Bachelors out there however despite it taking 8 years (yikes!) I feel that I needed that time and perspective to determine where my life was headed and where I truly wanted to be.

During that time of directing my career goals more clearly, which is still and will always be an ongoing process I decided that I would change my goals in my Master’s program as well. I knew I always wanted to continue education in a graduate degree but I had always planned in the Social Sciences realm. I am now currently enrolled in a Master’s of Business Administration program and actually greatly enjoy it! I look back at all my friends that I pitied and think wow; I can’t believe I am now one of them. My past education experiences have helped shape me as a person and student and I am much more confident in my future. As an incoming freshman at 14 and even as a senior at 18 there is no way to know what you may want to do for the rest of your life. Even now at 26 I can change my goals, and that is perfectly okay. As long as you learn through your experiences to truly understand where you are meant to be in life and always remember to enjoy yourself along the way.