Well hey party people!!! I know its been such a long time but I am just at a point where I am so eternally grateful. One year ago, I was entering my freshman year of college totally unaware of what to expect. I was an incoming IB major with an undeclared functional major and minoring in Chinese. Everytime I told people close to me what I was studying, they were curious because I had never shown an interest in business. To me, business was the most stable major. My whole life I have been surrounded and blessed with stability --- familial, financial, and for the most part emotional. To me, it would only make sense to take the stable route or the route more likely to reap benefits. As well as being an International business major, I had agreed to go to Hong Kong for 16 months in order to be in my cohort. I busted my ass and cranked out a 1000+ word paper and was really in the best position for an incoming freshman at USC. However, for some reason I still felt weird. I took on my first semester and joined a professional business fraternity and signed up to be on Legislative Action Network for Student Government. Still on route to go to HK in six months, I started to backpedal. I asked myself what was wrong and why I just wasn't happy. I shrugged it off and chopped it up to dear of the challenges that lay ahead. I took on second semester and added Dance Marathon to the mix. However, in second semester, I hit a real slump. In the slump, I decided not to go to Hong Kong and pick up a public relations minor. For a little while, that seemed to shake off the slump but it came back. I started losing interest in my classes and found myself not even wanting to get out of bed. Everyone said it was just those second semester feelings, seniorities on steroids. I was doing everything right, right? I had an internship at Senator Scott's office, decent grades, solid friends. To the outside eye, I seemed to have everything I wanted and needed to succeed in college. I also tried to convince myself that everything was working out just how it was supposed to --- it was just normal. I went home for the summer on a high because I had found a group of girlfriends I cherished, the position in SG I had dreamed about (blog post coming for this), a spot on dance marathon's recruitment committee and at a personal consensus that everything was okay. I was reeling after getting my grades because for the first time ever I had gotten not one but TWO C's on my transcript and I just didn't know what was going on with me. I was still always very unsettled about my decision to not go to HK and felt that these feelings were just repercussions of that decision but I truly felt that God had other plans. and boy did He have plans for me.
Fast forward to one day when I heard news of the Obama Foundation coming to Columbia. I was shocked. The Obama foundation coming to Columbia, SC????? It felt so random. I saw the age range being from 18-24 and thinking to myself theres no point in applying because I'd be competing with grad students and young professionals in the area. I just knew I was out of my league. But I thought what the heck, so at 3 AM I decided to apply. No proofreading. No twiddling my thumbs. I just filled out the application and sent it not expecting to hear anything back. A couple of weeks later, my friends send screenshots of people getting accepted into the community leadership corps and I still hadn't received anything. I went through my focused inbox five times and didn't see anything and just pouted honestly. I switched over to my "other" inbox and there it was in bold: Obama Foundation Community Leadership Corps. I had gotten in!!! Disbelief, shock, and joy came over my body. How could me the measly 18 yr old have competed against these applicants? I couldn't believe my eyes. As soon as I got back down to Columbia, I changed my major out of the business school to Global Studies and finally everything felt at peace.
I know this was pretty lengthy but the point is to take the leap. I took a leap coming to USC knowing no one, I took a leap turning down an opportunity only a handful of business students get a chance at, I took a leap when I accepted my current position in SG as the Columbia Advisory Group director, I took a leap when I changed my major, and finally I took a leap when I went to the Obama foundation and advocated for a project that culminates everything I care about. Always take the leap. Do not shy away. Do not waiver. God has your back always and forever.
Fast forward to one day when I heard news of the Obama Foundation coming to Columbia. I was shocked. The Obama foundation coming to Columbia, SC????? It felt so random. I saw the age range being from 18-24 and thinking to myself theres no point in applying because I'd be competing with grad students and young professionals in the area. I just knew I was out of my league. But I thought what the heck, so at 3 AM I decided to apply. No proofreading. No twiddling my thumbs. I just filled out the application and sent it not expecting to hear anything back. A couple of weeks later, my friends send screenshots of people getting accepted into the community leadership corps and I still hadn't received anything. I went through my focused inbox five times and didn't see anything and just pouted honestly. I switched over to my "other" inbox and there it was in bold: Obama Foundation Community Leadership Corps. I had gotten in!!! Disbelief, shock, and joy came over my body. How could me the measly 18 yr old have competed against these applicants? I couldn't believe my eyes. As soon as I got back down to Columbia, I changed my major out of the business school to Global Studies and finally everything felt at peace.
I know this was pretty lengthy but the point is to take the leap. I took a leap coming to USC knowing no one, I took a leap turning down an opportunity only a handful of business students get a chance at, I took a leap when I accepted my current position in SG as the Columbia Advisory Group director, I took a leap when I changed my major, and finally I took a leap when I went to the Obama foundation and advocated for a project that culminates everything I care about. Always take the leap. Do not shy away. Do not waiver. God has your back always and forever.
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