Author: Bridgette Stepule

Highlight: "You have to go to college, Bridgette, I don’t want you to end up like me."

Document Text:
1 My Path to Success --by Bridgette Stepule “You have to go to college Bridgette, I don’t want you to end up like me.” ____________________________________ 2 Community college attended: Manchester Community College Location: Manchester, Connecticut Date success story was submitted: 7 August 2018 Community college sponsor/mentor and college affiliation: Patrick Sullivan, English Department, Manchester Community College Key search terms: Recent high school graduate Academic major: Accounting ***** “You have to go to college Bridgette, I don’t want you to end up like me. I don’t want you divorced with children and no college education because you decided to run a business instead.” This has always been my mom; she wants the best for me. I understand where she is coming from but I didn’t know what I wanted. I pondered the thought of running my family’s business after graduation. I also thought about sailing around the world with my dad. All I knew was that I did not want to go to a four-year college and end up with thousands of dollars in debt. This did not make sense to me. I thought I would be fine without any college if I was going to run the family business, but my mom didn’t agree. This was my senior year in high school. My friends had all just been accepted to their colleges: Washington State, Western State, and University of New England. My entire life had been planned out for me if I didn’t go to college. I was going to graduate high school, run the family business and never leave my hometown. All my friends were leaving and I wasn’t going to be someone great, like we all dream of as kids. My mom proposed the MCC option. I was wishy-washy about it because it was a community college and wasn’t any more than that. Though, towards the end of my senior year I decided to see where it could take me. I didn’t really want to tell anyone because it seemed sort of embarrassing. I wouldn’t say I was ashamed of going to MCC but compared to every other student at my high school, me and maybe 2 other people were going to a 2-year community college, out of the 500 hundred in my graduating class. By the time I graduated, I began telling people I was going to MCC. Many people tried to be sympathetic to me by saying, ‘Oh, that’s a great option, my daughter’s husband’s nephew did that and he turned out great” or ‘That’s a smart way to save money.” At this point I decided not to care what people thought of me. I decided my own path and I was going to go to MCC for business. Once it was August, the nerves started kicking in. I was freaking out for this next step in my life. I was going to college, my friends were leaving and this was going to be a huge change. I was a sad time for me because I was helping my friends pack up their things and move them to college. I realized that I would be missing out on living in a dorm room but I new that there were other exciting things for my path. When I had my first class at MCC, my heart was racing. I was 20 minutes early, sat in the front of the room and waited for people to arrive. People started to filter in and I realized I was not alone. A few other kids sat near me and they didn’t seem so nervous. I began to relax when I 3 discovered that many other students were in the same boat as me. They were about my age and just there to learn. After my first semester at MCC, I got the hang of things. I ended with a 4.0 GPA and decided to change my path to a degree in Accounting. I made some new friends and now I am excited to attend college. I am proud to say I go to Manchester Community College, as should everyone who attends. This college is amazing. The teachers are great and so are the other students. Everyone helps each other out and it makes MCC all the better. I learned that there are many preconceptions about community colleges, all which I discovered to be false. People always say that community colleges don’t have good teachers. The professors are just high school level, don’t know college level information and are only part time. I found this to be extremely false. Every teacher I met at MCC was very smart and I was definitely honored to learn from each and every one of them. In fact I think that professors at MCC are better than universities because they aren’t just full time teachers. The people teaching us are practical humans that have real world experience. My business professors have been out in the world and either have run or are currently running their own business. This helps the students learn because they can answer every question there is, because they have experienced it. Another thing I found to be untrue was the group of students at MCC. Many people think that a community college is just full of older adults who are bored with their lives and want to get a new career. Although there are many students who are in that category, there are also many students in their 20’s. I was nervous to attend MCC because I was afraid that I would never find a friend. My peers would all be adults and unrelatable. This was also proven to be untrue. I have found many friends my age who are all in the same place as me. They just want a good education at a good price, which MCC will provide. Community colleges are full of people with all different types of backgrounds and history that will inspire you to be the best you can be. My advice to any student planning on attending a community college is to be open minded and ready to learn. I feel that many kids who attend a university are all the same. Most of them are 19 year old’s who do not know what they want to do in life and have “daddy’s money” paying for their nights out. These people do not always appreciate the opportunity given to them. Students at MCC are not this way. These people may not always know what they want to be when they “grow up” but they do not take things for granted. They appreciate everything given to them and take the opportunity to become a better student and a better person in their career plan. If you do not know what you want to do in life, this is the place to get inspired to be the best you can be, by your peers. Below (bottom image) is a photo of me (in the middle) at my Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremony. This was a very proud day for me. Phi Theta Kappa is the Honors Society for two- year college students. 4