This is Me Challenge: College Years

My whole life I knew that I would attend Brigham Young University (BYU).  When it was time to apply for colleges BYU was the only college I applied for.  I was even able to get a half tuition scholarship.

When I first started at BYU, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career.  I initially thought I might do something with math.  My first semester I took a Career Exploration class.  As I learned about myself and my options I realized I would only be happy if I was able to be working with kids.  That meant teaching was the natural route to take.  What I believed to be the hardest thing then was in fact the thing I struggle with most.  I love kids and being with them, but I can tend to be a pushover and classroom management can be tricky.  While I am not a public school teacher, I feel preschool has the same struggles I would have in an older classroom setting.  

I have always had my head on straight so the dumb things I did back then seemed like a big deal even though others might not think they are insignificant.  My freshman year I lived in Helaman Halls.  That year we watched as the imploded all of Deseret Towers.  One night a group of us decided to go explore one of the buildings that had not been imploded yet.  It was kinda cool going inside and seeing the mattresses piled in just a couple room and everywhere else completely empty.  The stairways were so dark, but when we made it to the top it was really cool looking out at the campus and up at the stars.  Later on in my Senior year I had a roommate, Jolene, who had a friend who always bragged about how good he was at dumpster diving.  It took awhile, but we finally convinced him to take us.  We went to Krispy Kreme and got a box of donuts and Little Caesars and got a pizza.  The donut box was unopened so I thought it would be safe to eat. However, the pizza was looking a little questionable so I passed on it. 

On the other end I felt like I grew so much as a person due to the good things I accomplished.  My freshman year I was called as a Sunday School teacher.  I was so scared I actually started crying when they extended the calling.  Even though it was a difficult calling and pushed me outside my comfort zone I learned so much about the scriptures that I wouldn't have learned without that opportunity.  My sophomore year I was called again to teach Sunday School.  This time I accepted a bit more gracefully, but I was no less terrified.  One of the coolest experiences I had was hiking Mount Timp with Natalie and some of her friends.  It was so cool to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain and I knew that I pushed myself harder than I ever had before.  I was sooo sore for over a week!  It was also good graduating Cum Laude.  I worked hard while in college to make good grades and learn new things to help me succeed.  This honor just reinforced to me that my hard work paid off.

All four years I lived with roommates.  My freshman year I was in the dorms and I had 5 roommates with one of them in the same room as me.  I've never been the tidiest person, but this experience taught me that I do value cleaniliness.  Some of my roommates would leave food crusted on the stove and pans with food still in them out on the counter.  Here I found one of my closest friends, Natalie.  My sophomore year I moved to Carriage Cove with Natalie.  We had 2 other roommates.  These girls were  a little older and a bit quirky, but so much fun.  They both had consistent boyfriends so we didn't hang out with them all that much. My junior year we stayed at Carriage Cove but moved apartments.  This new apartment is were I met one of my best friends, Kaitlyn.  We clicked pretty quick and after that we were practically inseparable.  This apartment was when I finally moved into a ward that I felt I belonged.  My other new roommates, Danielle, kinda forced me to be social and within a year or so I become much more of an extrovert than I ever had before.  That summer I chose to stay in Provo.  Natalie moved out and Kaitlyn and I got 2 new roommates, one of them being Jolene.  We too became quick friends.  She and I could always be complete idiots together and neither of us cared.  After the summer we got one new roommate, Ashley.  She was super cool.  While Jolene and I bonded quickly, Ashley and Kaitlyn became good friends.  I loved being on my own over these 4 years.  I felt independent. I feel my parents taught me good values that allowed me to be capable of succeeding on my own.

One of the biggest life lessons I learned while at school is that we can think we know exactly how our life will play out, but we aren't really the one in control.  When I finished school I saw myself living a completely different life than the one I had.  When things didn't seem to go the way I planned during college I felt like it was meant to be my trial and it was unbearable. After finishing with school, I could look back and see that the Lord knew what I needed and when way better than I knew.  When I recognized and accepted this I found peace.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to attend college.  I have always loved learning and would go to school forever if I could.  I feel it is important for us to continue learning and pursuing knowledge our entire lives.  Just because we finish high school, college, grad school, whatever, does not mean we are done learning.  I strive to be a lifelong learner!