Why I Decided to Stay
After graduating from high school, I came home crying because I had no idea what to do with my life. My dad looked up from his reading and suggested that I spend a year at Pensacola Christian College just to figure out what I wanted to do. I laughed. That wasn’t for me. I was not about to travel 997 miles away from my home to make new friends and start a new routine.
Well, never say never.
A few weeks later, I arrived at PCC wide-eyed and feeling extremely small. I checked in and unpacked my bins, and I most likely begged Mom to take me back with them. After I watched their car pull away, I gave myself a pep talk, “It’s only ONE year. You can do this.”
At the end of my first year, I hugged my friends and said “Have a great summer! See you in the fall!”
Wait, what?? What happened to ONE year??
In just one year at college, I had gained many close friends and I had made incredible memories. I had been surrounded by godly people who cared about me and my future. So just one year became just another year...
*Sophomore Year Flashed By*
*Junior Year-Going, Going, Gone*
Now here I sit. A senior.
A few of my friends and I were discussing going through our yearbook from our first year and seeing just how many people had chosen another path than to finish their education. It hasn’t always been easy to spend time away from my family and friends back home. It hasn’t been easy to get up early to study. It hasn’t been easy to choose to work on projects instead of going to get frozen yogurt at Wild Honey with my friends.
But it has been worth it.
I wouldn’t trade my difficult classes, hilarious misadventures with friends, silly struggles, prayer sessions, unnecessary nerves from speech classes, tear stained notecards, worn out flats, overused safety pins, and all the little things that make college college.
In a few months, my classmates and I will be walking across the Crowne Centre stage to gladly receive what we have worked so hard for, with proud friends and family in the audience.
This whole crazy journey to gain the necessary skills and abilities I need to serve where God will place me has been why I decided to stay.
0
You must be logged in to post a comment.