by Tiffany Blevins
“The Power of Choice”
I was standing in line waiting to accept my scholarship check and discussing with my friend about the week I just had. In the last week I had received two accomplishments through my art, went on a trip to
Chicago with the TRIO Student Support Services and had now received my recognition of being on the Presidents list for the previous semester. The particular point of discussion was that I wanted to post about my week on Facebook but felt that by doing so some people from back home would be angry at my success. My friend could understand, as she had faced similar situations back home. This got me thinking and wondering if many of the students that I encounter have the same kind of feed back from people they know or are their family. Personally I get a lot of “You think you’re better than us!” comments. And you know what I tell those that accuse me of that? I hold my chest up high, stand tall, and say “I am.” I say that because I chose to succeed. I chose to put work into my studies and get good grades. I chose to get out of the kind of environment that doesn’t support growth. We are placed on this earth in situations beyond our control. Sometimes those situations are terrible, destructive or dehumanizing. But at certain points in all of our lives we have to stand up and choose the path that we walk. We can choose to go forward, stay where we are, or go backward. All of us here at Haskell have made a choice to pursue education and to strive for success despite whatever background we may have come from. I want to reach out and encourage those students who may be facing condemnation for their success to continue to strive towards their goals and to help others realize that they too can pursue a betterment of their lives.
