I Graduate College Today...

A day that I never thought would ever be here has arrived. College graduation. I become a college graduate today. I was the first in my family to graduate high school. The first to go to college and now the first to graduate college. Wow.





Being a first generation college student has its own set of challenges. My family has been super supportive, but they didn't know the first thing about college, so the entire process fell on me. Once I got in, I had to figure out how to pay for it. Wanna know a secret? Like many of you I'm sure, I don't come from money. We always had what we needed and somehow, we never really went without the necessities, but that didn't come without sacrifices that my parents made to make sure that my siblings and I were taken care of. I remember going to Chick-fil-a for the first time as a kid with a friend and thinking about how awesome that was. I thought it was the fanciest restaurant ever. My parents definitely had a lot of struggles, but they are the most selfless people I know. 

I have been so blessed in my life.



God has always provided for my family and I. Always. School always ended up being paid for, I was able to join a sorority, which quite honestly was something I never imagined I would get to do. I've been to the AJC, been published on Her Campus, and interned with nationally-syndicated radio shows, The Bert Show and Adam Bomb. I got to be on the radio a few times. I took classes from professors who spent years as journalists for places like CNN and ABC News. I made my closest friends. I started this blog. There were days when I was stressed to the point I would cry and other days that I never wanted to end. I walked around campus at midnight. I went to Waffle House at 2 a.m. 



College has been an amazing experience. An experience that I am forever grateful that I had the opportunity to have. I am so blessed. Not everyone has a chance to go to college. My parents sure didn't

I am the daughter of a teen mom and an immigrant. The daughter of a woman who got so sick and behind in school and never had a chance to go back, but is so smart and loved being a mom more. The daughter of a man who grew up in poverty in Mexico and had to quit going school when he was just a kid so he could provide for his family and came to the United States for a better life, yet is crazy smart. 



I might not have a single job offer right now. Does that suck? Yeah, it does. I've got interviews and I'm waiting to hear back from places, but nothing is set in stone. It scares me. Terrifies me because I feel like I did everything right.. got good grades, interned, have really great references, got so involved.. and yet, more doors are closing on me than ever before.

Today, I forget how defeated I feel. Today, I put my anxiety and all those voices inside my head that are telling me that I'm not good enough aside. Graduating college is an accomplishment that I deserve to celebrate. 

College has been the time of my life and today marks the official end of this chapter, but I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the best is yet to come


Happy graduation to anyone graduating. We did this and we deserve to celebrate.

xo, 
Amanda

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