I know this may be an odd blog post...
But I think the journey of my post secondary school education is an important milestone in my life.
So let's start from the beginning...
I remember sitting in the library of my high school thinking "where am I going to go?" At the time we had a class that would prepare us for how to apply for University/College. Back then, I thought it was only acceptable to go to University. I had this thought in my brain that going to University would get me the better job with the higher salary. I learned later on that that statement is not necessarily true. So circle back to sitting in front of that computer. I knew that I wanted to stay local. Or if I had to move, it wouldn't be far. At the time I was an only child, and very attached to my family. I thought to myself, "well, I always liked marine biology, let's look into that"...yeah....I needed all four years of every type of high school science...I quit that crap in grade 10 so I guess that option was out. Then I thought..."my teachers have always told me I'm good at history, what about that?" So I looked into it, the accepting grade was within reason and I had all the requirements. I could be a historian, a teacher, a librarian...those seem fun and stable. But too be honest, I really didn't know. I wasn't completely confident. But I applied anyway. I applied to Wilfred Laurier, University of Western and University of Waterloo, with Laurier being my first choice.
Months passed, and I had heard from Western first, and then University of Waterloo. I was accepted into both. And I got a small scholarship to Waterloo. Also, at the time, my mom was working for the University of Waterloo and she could get a small discount on my tuition. I thought, "should I just go to U of W and just forget about Laurier?" I decided against that and about a month later I got my acceptance letter to Laurier. So, I accepted right away, and was ready to take on my new school and hopefully thrive.
Fast forward to September of 2012. My bags were packed in the car and my mom moved me into my residence. I was nervous because I actually got my last choice of the dorm room, but I still went into it hopeful. I met my room mate, we got along pretty well, but we didn't have that connection that most roommates have. Classes finally started and it was like a smack in the face. Where the hell was I? I was not understanding any of this!! There was so much reading, so many essays, and when you're majoring in history...your nose is stuck in a book 24/7. I never stayed in my dorm, I was always going off to hang out at my boyfriends at the time, who was staying in residence at the University of Waterloo. We broke up for a few months and that wrecked me and I couldn't concentrate on anything else. I really slacked, and to top it all off, I wasn't enjoying what I was learning. I didn't like how professors didn't know my name, and I had one prof even laugh in my face when I submitted a proposal for an assignment.
First year ended. I was on academic probation. I was determined that second year would be different. So I buckled down and went to all my classes, did my assignments...but yet no change. Okay yes, I was improving a little...but not enough to get me in the clear. I remember Christmas break when I got all my marks back, and I still wasn't doing well. I broke down to my Mom and told her that I didn't think this was for me. Nothing interested me. And if nothing interested me now, how was I going to do a career in this field for the rest of my life? I had the option to drop out after first semester in second year, but I decided to give it one more chance.
Nothing changed. No matter how hard I tried, or how hard I studied, I was still failing. I could tell from the words that I wrote on my assignments that they were bland and had no meaning. And my professors could see that. So when second year wrapped up, I made the decision to not continue at Laurier.
Cue the summer of 2014. I was working A LOT because I didn't know if I was going to be returning to school. One thing I did take away from majoring in history was I liked to write. I have always loved to write and put down my thoughts on paper. So I looked into some programs at Conestoga College and Journalism Broadcasting showed up...but that's a story for a different day....