Change in my life

By: Shanequa Walker

Part of growing up, you have to deal with things you never deal with before. You have to be able to take all your bad experiences and turn them into something proactive and learn from them. Being here at Shaw, I have learned a lot about myself and what I have inside of me and what I can do. Through all the experience Shaw allows me to get to better understand of what I would want my future to look and be like is the most significant of this whole experience. Through this, I am able to see my future clearer and clearer every day.

Coming to a school which I didn’t know what it had in store for me, I was very nervous. The night before I wasn’t able to sleep but indeed daydream about what the next four years would be like. I had a lot of things on my mind which made my heart race. In my mind coming to a new school and city was the biggest part of it all. Will I like it? Will I succeed? Will I make my family proud? Questions like this kept running through my mind all night. Either way I was on my way to the biggest change in my life and I had to get ready.

The day I came to Shaw, all my worries went away. Everything I had worried about the night before was gone. I realized what I was getting myself into and I was ready. Listening to all the faculty about what the school had to offer me and how I was to receive them was mind blowing. The fact that they were so kind and cared about our futures was even better. My dreams was about to come to life with just a little more hard work they told me. I was ready to jump into act and get everything started. Not knowing where this college would take me, I was ready for anything it through at me.

Being away for your family and home can teach you a lot about yourself in just that little time. I was here for about three months so far and learned things I never knew. To understand the college life, you really have to think and act like a college student. I had to change a lot about myself in just that little time. I learned that I was a big procrastinator and that had to be changed immediately in order for me to succeed. I had to change a lot of my time into study time instead of hanging out.

But that’s not the only thing I find out about myself. I had to look deep inside to really understand why I was here. What did I have to prove? What did I really want to do with my life after all this is done? I learned to understand what I can do on my own, without anybody help. I become a young independent woman who was in full force and ready to go after anything I put my mind to. I learned that all the things I wanted to be and do were all up to me. I have to go after what I want and not wait for no one. To not let anyone underestimate what I can do. To take the word “NO” and turn them to a “YES”.

Through everything I have learned today, Shaw has made me a better person. I have learned to stand on my own two feet and do things by myself. I’m learning and growing into the young woman I always wanted to be. I’m learning new things about myself each and every day I wake up. I have my down falls same times but its only allow me to grow and become a better person then yesterday.