by
User Not Found
| Jan 05, 2018
Chase Crawford | January 5, 2018
To me, college is everything. It is the place I'd spend the best four years of my life, the place I will meet my life-long friends, and most importantly, the place I will become a full-blown adult. It's more than just a school, it's a location of self-discovery.
How do you define yourself now? To you, who are you? What are you made of? Here's who I am: I'm 16. I play soccer. I get good grades. I have friends. I have hobbies. I have a crazy family that I love and adore. In all honesty, I see myself as a typical teenager. My friends and I have study dates at Starbucks. I hit snooze on my alarm clock more than I should. I binge watch cheesy shows on Netflix. One of my biggest concerns is being asked to the Winter Formal. When people see me, they see a tall blonde girl who smiles a lot, who may be a teacher's pet, who may be a little too obsessed with her identity. This is me, someone who is comfortable, someone who is privileged, someone who wants to make something more out of herself.
I want to have a voice. I want to be challenged. I want to be a better version of myself than I was the day before. When I look at myself in the mirror, when I assess my identity and the identity I want to develop, I see room to grow. I see hope of that growth. I see my college experience as a catalyst for who I will become. College will give me a voice, a challenge, a change, and most importantly, a location of self-discovery.
How do we become who we are? That's a question asked by scholars, workers, authors, doctors, and yes, even teenagers. The only explanation I have is that I am who I am through experience. The definition of me is formed through the way I grow up, the knowledge I've gained, the ups and the downs, the stress and the peace. College is a jolt of this experience. It is the prominent light, the first time you are left alone, outside of a comfort zone, with only yourself, the people you meet, and information you learn.
It cannot be stated enough, college is, in all aspects, a location of self-discovery.
Who do you want to become? When it comes to college, you are, relatively, in the driver's seat. You can choose your experiences. You can choose your environment. You can choose your challenges. You can choose your location of self-discovery. Ultimately, you can choose who you will become. So, here's the challenge when it comes to finding your school: it's not just about the major, the programs, and the professors. It's about the people, the opportunities, the system, and the situations that build character.
I challenge you, find your school, and in the process, find yourself too.
Ask yourself, what are you made of?
Chase Crawford, a junior at Heritage Christian High School, is in the midst of her college search. Chase is interested in writing and majoring in English. She plays on the high school soccer team and is working on her first novel.
