“Mom, this is where I’m gonna go to college,” my little thirteen-year-old self happily declared in the front seat. I had just gotten done attending a ‘College for Kids’ day at Texas Wesleyan University, the school my grandmother had graduated from way back in the day, and was madly in love. This had been my first experience going to an ‘actual’ school since I had been homeschooled my whole life, and the idea of one day going to a place like this was exhilarating.
During the day, I had the opportunity to visit the classrooms to do mini-classes within my interests taught by female professors. I attended a class on forensic science where we learned about fingerprints; I went to one on physics where we made play-doh boats and filled them with metal washers as we attempted to make them float; I even got to learn how fiberoptic cables work and learned about smart technology. As the day went on I met several other girls my age that had similar interests in TV shows and movies as myself. We also got to eat an absolutely delicious lunch in the gym, which we ate while being entertained by a ‘science magician’. All the while I was on a beautiful campus with lots of green space and friendly tour guides showing us from small classroom to small classroom.
It was perfect, I had decided. Small classes meant my professor could get to know me, which would help with my homeschool background. It was close to home, so I didn’t have to live in a nasty dorm. Not to even mention the fact that I had had a blast that day, and to a thirteen-year-old, that’s what really mattered.
So imagine how much my heart broke when my ever-the-realist mother replied, “No, you’re not.”
I quickly found out that this college would cost way too much for me to ever go. I would have to settle for starting at TCC and hoping to transfer somewhere that wouldn’t cost our house. While this was discouraging, to say the least, my determination kicked in as I set my mind on going to Wesleyan, no matter how hard it was. I carried this through high school, all the way until my senior year, when I signed my mom and me up for tour after tour of the school, hoping maybe seeing it a few more times could make it a reality. I didn’t ever tell my mom it was the only school I sent in my application for. I wanted Wesleyan more than anything.
Along comes a letter in the mail inviting me to the exclusive ‘Scholarship Day’, where students in the top 10% of incoming freshmen were asked to come to be interviewed for a chance at scholarship money. “This could make it possible!” I told my parents, even though I assured them I would work hard through college to pay off anything any scholarship I received didn’t cover. The day came and to my dismay, every kid there seemed to be a lot smarter than myself. I interviewed with a nice lady named Stacy and hoped that maybe I could get a few thousand dollars that could make it possible to go here.
The next week, I received a phone call from a lady in admissions I had met from my many tours who made casual conversation for as long as she could before blurting out happily that I was the top scorer at Scholarship Day and had received a full ride to Wesleyan. I nearly dropped the phone in excitement as I joyfully told my mom and dad the good news – I was going to college.
Flash-forward to the present and I am in my junior year at Wesleyan. I have had some great times, including getting to go to Dallas Comic Con and the Gainesville State School as field trips, and some not so great times – being diagnosed with brain cancer during sophomore year comes to mind – but overall my college experience has been everything I could have dreamed it would be and more, and now I have my eyes set on my next step with what I would like to do after Wesleyan.
I plan to graduate in May 2020 with a Bachelor’s degree in mass communication. After that, I am considering going on to get an MBA or a Master’s in psychology, or maybe even both, depending on what kind of job I am working. I am interested in running social media and websites, but I also have a life-long love of filmmaking and photography that I think can take me pretty far in this field. My absolute dream job would be working for something as great as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, either as a director, screenplay writer, or filmmaker.
As of now, I am keeping my options as open as possible, gaining lots of experience and having fun while doing all of it. Life is unfortunately very short and we as humans never know what tomorrow could hold, but I am planning to make the most of my life. As I often tell people; I’m gonna change the world, I’m just not sure how yet.
Amanda Roach 