Introduction (REVISED)

I moved to Maine with my family when I was just seven years old from Danbury, Connecticut.  Being that we were moving from a large metropolitan city, it was quite a culture shock when we pulled into our new neighborhood and I saw Old Town for the first time. I went through most of elementary to high school in the Old Town school system, barely graduating my senior year due in part to the fact that I had been making regular trips to New York to take care of my grandparents since the age of thirteen.  The stress of spending months on end trying to help a sick or injured family member was enough to deter me from caring about my education, but in the end I still managed to graduate with honors.

I was also somewhat of a procrastinator when it came to homework and filing forms, so I didn't submit my college application to the University of Maine until it was the end of the senior year.  I got my denial letter that August, which wasn't really much of a shock; I didn't get the required recommendations from teachers and I barely put any effort into the application itself.  Being that I had also had random jobs throughout high school, I decided to continue down the path of low wages and enduring horrible hours rather than sitting in a classroom and the decision was easy since I only applied to UMO.  It didn't take me long to realize that I definitely needed to do something better with my life and by the age of 20 I was accepted and enrolled at Eastern Maine Community College.

Throughout my time in college there have been very many ups and downs.  People have been in and out of hospitals, family ties have disintegrated, love and loss but that's life, at least for me.  I would be a liar to say that it was easy to get through it, especially considering it's taken me four years to get this far, but it definitely wasn't impossible.  Writing has always been something I've done to keep my mind off of the present, to detail what is going on in my life, to keep track of things that have happened.  I have taken many classes to sharpen my skills in English and Writing, hoping to become a better writer entirely.  Slowly but surely, I think I am starting to see improvement to a marginal degree, but we all are our worst critics. 

Although it’s been a very long and arduous road for me in order to get to this point, I am glad that I made the decision to continue my education.  Due to the unexpected death of my father when I was 19, it has taken me longer than expected to get here, but it also spurred me to take back control of my life and the journey has been well worth it.  It provides me great self-respect to know that I am within months of actually completing something that will end with a degree and not just a last paycheck or worse, getting stiffed entirely.  By this spring, I will be graduating as part of the Liberal Studies program and moving on to a different college or university and although I haven’t chosen which one as of yet, I know I will be continuing no matter what.  Eastern Maine Community College has renewed my faith in education, illustrating to me further that there are better work options out there rather than flipping burgers and cleaning floors, both of which I have done with poor monetary results.  I have tried just about every job there is to offer around the area, but nothing comes close to the feeling of accomplishment I will have when I graduate, and for that I am very thankful.