Writer's Name
Professor's Name
ENGL 0950-0x
Date

Final Draft

The past few years have been a journey that ultimately landed me here at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.  I have had more help than hindrance guiding my decision.  The help has come from all sorts of places, but mostly my family.  Everyone in my family has gone to college.  I’m the youngest so obviously it was expected of me to do the same.  But I didn’t start college right after high school like most students do.  I’ve been out of high school for about three years.  I took some time to figure out what I wanted from life.  Choosing the right college was easy for me.  Where could I go that would be inexpensive and know my credits would easily transfer when I’m ready?  Anoka-Ramsey Community College was the obvious choice.

The first thing that helped me get to college would be the guidance of my parents.  My father, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, is the one with the great job, supporting our family pretty much on his salary.  He showed me that I need to go to college not by his words, but rather by his actions.  He demonstrated that to be successful, you need to work hard.  My mother has her Associate’s Degree.  She is the one who really pushed for me to go to college.  She was the more vocal of the two and constantly told me that I needed a college degree if I ever wanted to be able to support a family.  Seeing what my parents did with their lives opened my eyes to the reasons why I needed to further my education.  Both of my sisters graduated from Bethel University with their Bachelor’s Degrees.  Both have great jobs and love what they do.  All things considered, college seemed a good option for me, too.

As I approached my senior year in high school I had one thought in my head, avoid college at all costs.  Despite my parents’ wants for my life, I never really worked that hard in high school.  For some reason I just didn’t care too much.  So my college choices were greatly diminished.  Most of my friends were “college bound” types.  They worked hard in high school and had plans for the future that included moving on with their education.  For me it was another story.  I was in a band and we were going places, playing with great bands from all over and starting to make good money.  With the way things were going, I felt that I was going to do that for my career.  Well, later that summer it all ended.  Shows how much I know.

My life seemed to come to a halt, until thought of the place where my best friend chose to go after high school.  A place called Rockford Master’s Commission, in a nut shell it’s a nine-month intense discipleship program.  My first thought was, if I attended RMC I could avoid college another year or two.  It turned out to be something I really needed to do.  I needed to get away from this place (home) for awhile.  Rockford was a blessing in disguise.  I definitely learned a lot of discipline while I was there.  Working in a church to benefit other people, instead of yourself, really helps you gain perspective on your own life.

When I came back I knew I was ready to start college…I think.  I signed up for classes and as the day approached I was getting a little nervous.  Two days before classes started I came down with Mono.  I had to drop two of my classes.  I took only one class that semester, which was a Reading course.  That course helped with reading like you wouldn’t believe.  I never enjoyed reading because my mind would wander all over the place.  I could never focus.  After taking that course I can now stay focused on what I’m reading.  I finished that semester out really strong.  Well, it only was one class.

Figuring out a way to pay for college was the reason I took the next year off.  For the past year I’ve been working in a Group Home.  I worked with mentally and physically handicapped people.  It was a very trying time for because I worked the night shift and had little contact with the outside world.  Sitting there with nothing to do made me want to go to school.  I’ve never felt this way before.  I wanted to go to school and I wanted to do well.  This pretty much brings us to the present.

All these things have contributed to my decision to go to school.  I look at the past few years as a journey, where all has worked together to bring me here to this point.  I know that my experiences in college will be a journey as well.  I’m still not sure what I want from life but at least I have a better idea.  I count being at Anoka-Ramsey Community College as a “new beginning” and I can choose where I go.

Word count: 845