For those of you that knew me when I was in high school, you knew I hated school. The only thing I liked about school was the social aspect of it. I had a solid D/C average and I made sure to do the absolute minimum to graduate. I hated reading and I hadn’t read a single book all high school. The last book I read in school was in 6th grade, “Because of Winn-Dixie.” There was nobody I hated more in school than the kid who got a 92 on a test and would ask to do extra credit to raise their grade. I just didn’t care. ACT and SAT tests? You didn’t need them to graduate, so I made sure not to take them. I had no desire to go to college.
Now, if any of you knew my older brother David, you knew he was hard to compete with academically. He is SO smart! When teachers would find out he was my brother they would get excited and tell me how great of a student he was. I remember telling one teacher to lower her standards for me because I wasn’t David. He was high honors and I was just barely getting by. David was the kid that people like myself would try to cheat off.
Fast forward to graduation day. If you were at my high school graduation or saw pictures, you saw that I wore a National Honors Society sash and I was wearing a GPA medal.. those belonged to my older brother David. Everyone knew that I wasn’t making honors, so it was a joke!
I didn’t go to college after high school, my parents didn’t push it. When I said I wasn’t going they were okay with that. I had a job and just wanted to work. I would go visit my best friend at college on the weekends regularly for the “college experience.” Looking back, I don’t think I even had an end goal in mind, I just knew I didn’t want to be in school. From June 2013-December 2017, I had worked various jobs in the medical field with different job titles, I became a certified nursing assistant, I worked at a special education pre-school, and I worked as a nanny. My “life changing” job was at a pain management office. That is where I met a doctor who has become one of my good friends over the years. I’ll never forget walking into his office with some papers for him and him asking me what I was doing. He told me I had so much potential and I was wasting it just being a receptionist. That was May 2017 and it was just the push I needed. It hit me that I didn’t want to be making $13–15 an hour at some desk job for the rest of my life.
By January 2018, I was starting my first semester in college. After being out of high school for 4.5 years, I was finally ready, I had an end goal, and I was more determined than ever. My first college class was with a kid I had babysat once! In college I was eager to learn and I was focused. In my two years at Clinton Community College, I made some great memories and met some great people. I had some incredible professors that left a strong impact on me. In college, I was the kid who got a 92 and would ask if there was any extra credit I could do. I made the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, but if you asked my little brother, he would tell you I joined a frat because of the Greek letters. For the first time in my life, people were trying to cheat off ME! I never thought I would be the one covering up my paper so people couldn’t cheat off me.
After I graduated with my associated in December 2019, I decided to take some time off from school. I had decided to switch my major and was at a standstill with school until I figured out which direction to go. This ended up working to my favor with COVID-19. During that time, I had people try to discourage me from taking time off, because of the “if you take time off then you won’t go back” mentality. I ignored the comments and decided to focus on myself. I not only learned a lot about myself, but during this time of self-reflection is when I found myself again. The Anna who HATED reading, read almost 30 books this year!
Many times throughout this journey I would question myself. Was I making the right choice? Why didn’t my parents make me go to college right away, so I wouldn’t be in college at my age? I was hard on myself. IF I would’ve tried in high school, THEN I wouldn’t be in this situation. When I truly look back, I just wasn’t ready for college. I graduated high school at 17 and all I wanted to do was work and party, and that is exactly what I did. I would look at the kids in my class that would sleep in class, not take notes, come unprepared, not show up, play on their phones, not turn in assignments, etc. That would have also been me if I had gone to college before I was ready. I would’ve wasted so much time and money that I would’ve never got back.
I couldn’t have done any of this without my amazing parents. They have been a HUGE support system throughout this journey. Thank you for the endless prayers and words of encouragement. Thank you for not being one of those parents that force their kid to go to college because it’s “the right thing to do,” even if they aren’t ready. Through hardly graduating high school, waiting 4.5 years to attend college, changing majors, and taking a year off of school, you guys never stopped believing in me. I couldn’t ask for a better support system.
For students, I highly recommend doing your best in high school even if you don’t plan to go to college, otherwise you end up paying for classes you could’ve just done in high school. If you don’t want to go to college, then you need to find a job. Any parents out there with a child who hates school and doesn’t want to go to college, that is OKAY. My best advice for you would be not to make them go, but make sure you establish a plan. Don’t force them into something they aren’t ready for. Encourage them, believe in them, but most importantly never stop praying for them!
On that note, Junior year at Liberty University HERE I COME!!!
