St Cloud Technical and Community College Top Questions

High school does not define who you are or who you will be. The people who torment you will not be apart of your life forever and you can do more then what those around tell you that you will accomplish.

First grade was a significant time of struggle for me. While all of my peers seemed to learn and enjoy reading I just couldn’t. To ease my frustrations my teacher told me, “You learn better from your mistakes.” This was a mantra that helped me distance myself from my troubles and learn from them. If I don't make mistakes then I am unable to learn and better myself. I would not be who I am without going through trials. What advice would I give to high school me as a 25 year old re-enrolled freshman? Would I warn myself not to give into family pressure to enter college when I wasn’t ready? Would I nudge myself into the nursing program? Or warn myself of that toxic friendship I would make my first year? No, I needed to go through all those things to be where I’m at today. Today I’m surefooted on my path to nursing. I’m starting over at a new school focused, motivated, and high-achieving. I needed to make the mistakes I made. I would not rob the past me of making mistakes and the growth I got from them.

American companies are now, more than ever, looking for college educated young people they can train and mould into a vision of their company's purpose. Job discrimination is rampant, and your resume is the first article to speak to an employer, even before you set foot in an office or factory building for that crucial interview. You will learn so much from your first two years of college. You will learn, in a safe and guided environment, more about transitioning into adulthood and the options that await you than simply jumping into life head first and floundering on your own. College isn't just an opportunity, it's a gateway you must choose simply because it is much more difficult to start later in life with children and a household to support. You have so much fresh in your young mind. It isn't simply a choice: It's an incredible journey that will serve you well as you march toward the future. Take heed and listen, as your future self, the choice I would make would be to go to college right out of high school.

I would have to say the biggest thing I wish I would have known was to take more challenging classes and even A.P. classes that would have count as a college credit. That way I would have had a head start and it would have been free of charge. I also wish I would have been a part-time P.S.E.O. student. I think whenever a oppurtunity to take a class for free at a college, one should take it. In today's world everything is very expensive. Any little bit helps. I would also tell myself that continuing my education is a big deal. It's something that I should have been more prepared for and really done some research before hand. Everyone kind of pressures you to do a job that makes the most money or go to the school with the biggest name or the most expensive. That's not the case at all. I wish I would have known that it doesn't where you go. As long as you do something you love and want to do everyday, that's all that matters.

The advice that I would give to myself would be to never think that things are going to be handed to you in school and that saving up and time takes alot to get to graduate high school and to move on to college. I would tell myself that things in life are not going to be easy but there is a way of making things work and always finding a solution to a problem that you have had or are going to run into in life. You just cant ever give up what you have going for your life, you just need to always remember to keep trying and when things bring you down just get back up and keep doing your best at what you do.

Be very social and get to know a lot of the other students; they could eventually be your best friends for the rest of your life. Don't freak out the first day of college, it might be scary in a new place but it really is not as bad as it seems. Take your time in doing homework assignments; doing them and doing them right gets you points in the class and you'll be able to pass the class.

I would tell myself to breathe and take it slow. It is truely an experience you make for yourself. If you want it to be fun, you can make it fun but don't lose focus of your main goal, a degree. It is easy to get distracted in college, and you have to make the choice of whether or not you will let those distractions ruin your college career, or if you will ignore them. Some distractions can be good, like everynow and then enjoying a weekend with friends, but not all the time. I've learned that to get where you want to go you have to make sacrifices. In the end, those little sacrifices pay off, because you got the degreee you wanted and the job you've been trying so hard to get.