The Path Less Traveled by Taylor

The Path Less Traveled by Taylor - May 2014 Scholarship Essay

Have you ever listened to advice from those around you, questioned it's reliability and made your own decision? Later, the thought may cross your mind, "if only I had listened to her/him". Two years ago as a Sophomore in high school, I was faced with some very important decisions concerning my education. The state of North Carolina was beginning a new program "Career and College Promise" or "CCP". It is an opportunity for a student to begin college courses at any North Carolina community college if certain academic criteria are met. Additionally, and most importantly, the state will cover 100% of the college costs. Once I qualified for this program, I had many important decisions to make quickly. I needed some advice and I needed help on whose advice to listen to!

I have always depended on my educator mother to help lead me academically. However, she has allowed me to make my own decisions when it pertained to educational courses I enrolled. When the CCP opportunity arose, I had many students telling me that I was crazy to consider dual enrollment while a high school student. Other adults in my world questioned the CCP program because the course credits equal those of an Honors class and not an Advanced Placement course. I was currently ranked second in my graduating class and realized there would be no way to maintain my placement taking only college courses.

The most valuable advice I received came to me from my mother. She looked at me one day while I was struggling with the decisions of my future and said; "in five years nobody will care if you were valedictorian or salutatorian of your graduating class, but you will care that you saved two years of paying for college and being ahead of the game." I realized I was too worried about what others thought of me and I needed to be focused on improving myself and being on my own academic path. I signed up for the Career and College Promise program the next day and I have never looked back. I have been able to still be very involved in my high school, sports, clubs and become involved in our local community college as well. I will be graduating in June from high school with 45 hours of college credit already completed which will allow me to begin graduate school even earlier. Mom's advice has always been valuable, but this advice changed my path for many years to come.