“Before I came into college, I had mentioned that I wanted to do it with people, but it was kind of shut down because a lot of people are like, ‘That’s too expensive. It’s not gonna happen.’”
“I’m starting to realize this scholarship is literally the only reason that I even went to college. I’m in a unique position. I’m a little shocked. I don’t know why I’m still shocked. I guess I’m not realizing how rare I am. There were a lot of kids that I feel like who got left behind, and they had so much potential. There’s a lot of kids who should have been in college, too.”
“A full-ride scholarship covers the bills. It covers tuition, dorm, books and meal plans. It pays for you to be here. That doesn’t mean that you can be able to afford to do the stuff that you need to do, like if you want to do an internship out of state, study abroad, various things like that.”
“Most of the kids that I’ve encountered here, they have traveled out of the country. I’ve never done that. I am concerned because I feel that I am not as cultured as a lot of these kids. You know, they’ve been able to travel places, they speak multiple languages. And I feel like when they go into the professional world, they will be able to assimilate in a very good way and I feel like they are able to navigate higher places.”
“I feel like because I am so inexperienced, I am very behind socially. And one of my biggest fears is that, as I get older, it’s going to be really hard to really go into higher places, knowing that I’ve had such limited experiences.”
“Having a lot of money will make you a happy person, not because money is the source of happiness, but you were able to use it for what you want and what you want to do. It’s a tool. When you don’t have that tool, it’s very difficult. Life is very difficult. You have to make a lot of decisions, not because that’s truly what you want to do, but because you’re forced to.”
“That quote by Langston Hughes, a dream deferred? That has literally been my life. And when that happens constantly, over and over again, you lose your faith in life. You lose purpose. You just think, ‘You know, what is the point?’”
“I’ve had to struggle with feeling less than, so that’s kind of where I am mentally, trying to get myself out of that.”
“I don’t think that I don’t have a chance to succeed. I’m just insecure at the fact that it’s going to take me a lot longer than most.”