I am a dreamer.

NOT a post about the woes of school that people often write. Please read it through until the end.

Graduation is in 113 days. I know that this is a fairly normal accomplishment for people my age (22), but I am the first in my family to go to college. For those of you who had parents that knew how to help you with your FAFSA, scholarships, classes, etc. feel lucky. I have basically stumbled my way through school.

I remember being so afraid my first semester at the community college. I was shy, everything intimidated me, and holy hell was it expensive (to me anyway). Not only did I survive my first day, but I realized that it really wasn't much different than high school. In fact, it was better than high school because people weren't so damn judgmental. I went to school in a small town (Twin Falls, ID) so when anything even slightly crazy happened everyone knew about it. In fact, it was quite literally always on the news. So, when my dad got arrested the first time, I lost about half of my “friends”. BUT, when the same thing happened in college nothing changed. I mean, my personal life changed and it was definitely a struggle, but at school—nothing changed. That’s when I decided that I was going to love college.

So, during my second semester I interviewed onto the student senate and worked with the sustainability council. Quite honestly, I didn't even know what the sustainability council was but I knew that being involved meant money and money meant staying in school. So during this time, my dad gets arrested again. Only this time, he was living with my boyfriend & his dad so I needed to take care of his stuff and move it into storage. My parents are divorced, so whenever these things arose I was the acting power of attorney for my dad. Between trying to balance work, school, student senate, and all of the legal stuff my relationship crumbled. My boyfriend at the time decided to find himself another girlfriend when my life was too hectic to handle, so we broke up. It crushed me. He was my high-school sweetheart, but it only pushed me to focus even more of my attention toward school.

Student senator then became student body secretary and I got more and more involved in the community and added on a second major. At the tail end of my sophomore year of college a good friend encouraged me to run for student body president. My whole life I heard people telling me what “kids like me” did in their lives and it sure as hell wasn't student body president. So, I did it. The other two candidates were equally as qualified, but I was more driven. I didn't sleep until I knew that I won the election.

That year I made more major connections than ever before. I spoke to the state legislature, met with the state governor, organized numerous community service events, and attended a national leadership conference in Miami. I finished off the year on the presidents list, graduated with AA’s in political science and business, spoke at the graduation ceremony, and was accepted into the Boise State marketing program.

Since moving to Boise I have started a local chapter of a nonprofit organization that I support called I Am That Girl and managed to balance my job and classes. I am proud to say that I did not take out any loans my first three years of school, but sadly, I have had to do so during my time at BSU. So now, I am trying to figure out my future, which includes paying off those couple of loans ASAP.

I am a dreamer. Everyone always tells me that my ideas are crazy, but if I don’t do it, someone else will! I am originally from LA and I loooovvveee the city. I dream of working in music, entertainment, or fashion. BUT, I live in Idaho right now, so I will definitely have to move if I want to do any of those things. So what’s the best way to make these things happen? That’s you guys. It’s all about who you know, right? So, if any of you have any suggestions or connections please let me know. Oh, and if anybody wants to score me a marketing job working in the music or entertainment industries—I’d love you forever.