My College Experience

My college experience was not a normal one, it was nothing like the classic "4 years and out". While I am graduating in my 4th year of college, my sophomore and junior years were spent unenrolled and trying to rethink my career aspirations and life goals.

Coming into college, I wanted to be a music educator and teach high school band. Music was the one thing that I always resonated with, and playing music with my classmates in High School and College are still some of my fondest memories today, so I decided that I was going to dedicate my life to it. I started at NKU in the Fall of 2017 with a determined mindset on graduating in 3 years, and nothing was going to stop me.

And then something did...

After 1 year, I was having major problems feeling burnt out and tired. Music was one thing that always seemed to cheer me up and now it became the problem and the cause of my stress. I decided the cause of my problems was the school itself and I left NKU and attended University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music for a chance with a better program. While it was okay the first semester, the expectations were higher and the stress did not seem to go away. The first week of the second semester (Spring of 2019) I decided to drop out, and rethink everything.

I felt like a failure...

While I did feel the stress go away, the lingering stress of not knowing what to do scared me even more. It was the first time in my life that I didn't know what to do. For the first month, I didn't do anything but sleep, eat, and watch TV. I then eventually decided that I needed to get a job, and I got my very first job across the street as a server at Frisch's Big Boy, a local burger chain. While I didn't know it at the time, I was going to become a manager within 3 months, and it was going to change my aspirations and my life forever. Through my experiences while at Frisch's, I learned so much more about myself than I ever did at college, and I finally found my passion... management.

While my time at Frisch's wasn't always great and there were experiences that made me doubt why I was there to begin with, the people and customers that I interacted with everyday showed me why I always showed up for work. It also made me realize that while I wanted to be in management as a career, I did not want to stay in the food industry.

So, when I decided it was time to come back to school to get my degree, Integrative Studies seemed to suit my situation. I was fascinated by so many content areas , so I really couldn't pick just one. I also wanted to utilize the courses I took in music, as I was not going to start my college experience over again. This time I felt ready and prepared to succeed in all my classes, and it seems I have accomplished just that.

Why was all of this important?

Well to start off, I'm sure not many people can just take a 3 semester break from school and still graduate on time. I can truly say that the experiences I had while I was not in school greatly contributed to the person, and the scholar I am now. Without my experience dealing with failure, and reevaluating my life goals, I would not be graduating in May 2021 or be a person well equipped to succeed in both my studies and my life. I look back on the person I was when I started college and see him as blissfully ignorant, but still ladened with determination I still have today. My college experience has taught me to be comfortable with taking the road less traveled, and sometimes life will throw a curveball at you, but with an experience such as mine or countless others who journey down their own path, you'll do just fine hitting a home run.

Those 2 years out of college were the most important two years of my college experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything else!