My Goals for College and Beyond

In my 10th grade year, my counselor walked into my English class and told us all

about the options we have after high school. The closer I came to reaching 12th grade, I

realized that the next step in my life is college, and college should be given very heavy

consideration. I want to continue to grow, expand, and become something bigger than I

am now—a movement, an invention, a process; something to impact world development.

Therefore, I concluded that going into college is the backbone for the rest of my life. It will

allow me to further develop my social and intellectual skills, help determine how I can

expand my financial future, based on my educational level; as well as, learn more about

the wide array of other opportunities out there beyond high school. This is why attending

college is so important to me.

It’s important that I, not only attend, but also—most importantly—complete college

with a degree. This will better assist and ensure that I attain that “special” position I’m

seeking, and to use the more “complete” set of skills I gained in college to effectively help

my employer’s business, and elsewhere. Completing college shows that, as a person, I’m

fully dedicated and willing to take the next step and challenges to obtain beneficial results.

It will boost my confidence, and even push me to continue in the path to attain a higher

educational level— like a master’s or doctorate degree. Not completing college would be

like me forfeiting a fight, I not only think, but know I can win. Why would I even

contemplate this? What would be the point in doing so? After beginning college, it would

be terribly difficult for me to live with myself knowing I could easily give up on something

that’s so vital to my future, and totally within my reach.

 That being said, let’s consider the impact on our economy and nation of having

more highly educated and skilled workers. While in office, former President Obama set

forth a list of initiatives explaining why it’s extremely important for us nationally, to receive

a higher level of education, or skills, to remain globally competitive. To increase

employment opportunities, we need, not only more available jobs, but also workers

equipped with education and skills to fill those jobs to remain competitive with workers

globally in other countries. Current statistics from 2018’s Organization for Economic Co-

operation and Development research ranks the US number six out of ten, for the “Top

Ten Most Educated Countries in the World”, with Canada in the number one spot. When

people succeed in completing college with a master’s or PHD, it boosts our country’s

rating, and subsequently, eliminates any prejudice other countries may have about our

educational success rates. It keeps us highly competitive on both a national and

international level; and, it makes foreign businesses want to work with us more so than

other country because they know we can be trusted to get the job done, and done well.

Even after I complete college, I realize my journey doesn’t stop there. My goal is

to get hired by a company where I know I can use my skills effectively to benefit their

business, and perhaps even beyond that. I like helping people, so if I know what I do

helps them and moves them forward, I can rest easy. I’d like to major in a STEM related

field - more specifically computer science. This field is very hands on and methodical, so

it tells me that I must know what I’m doing to get a desired result. I wouldn’t be happy

sitting in a cubical. I’d be happier where I could see that I secured a program or system

—particularly with the cyber attacks happening today; or that I made a program work as
intended; or that my invention directly helped a large group of people. That’s my goal after

completing college, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it comes to pass.

Now, what is my role or responsibility in using a “village” approach to help other

African American students achieve this level of success where I stand today—just to take

a step forward? At my school, over the years, I witnessed a lot of African Americans

slacking off, not getting work done, talking to girls or boys, disregarding their future ahead

of them. I was one of them. I remember when the ACES program was accepting sign ups,

and their whole initiative flew over my head because I was more concerned about what

fun thing I’d do during lunch that day. That experience set a fire in me, and made me

painfully aware of the limited time I have left to prepare for college without the help of a

trusted source.

After realizing that, I started telling them that getting better grades are vitally

important to greater success in life, and that we’re not a part of this asinine “achievement

gap”—and intellectually we’re just as good, or greater than anyone else,—just take

another look at our forefathers and what they were able to achieve. Barack Obama is a

good example.

I have a few African American friends that aren’t so keen about this “college stuff.”

They tell me that no matter what they do, it won’t matter, or that they just aren’t ready for

it all. This “delay mentality” bothers me a lot because of some of the things out there that

they can or will get into while “waiting to be ready for college,” like drugs, or worse. While

college isn’t for everyone, I do tell them that college can help them see what’s out there

and what they may want to do in life.

 Now that I’m on the right track, I’ll directly assist them by sitting down and talking

with them, and try to see what kind of resources I can find that will put them on the right

path. I’ll find a community college that provides their interests and urge them to attend

college to learn more about it. I need to get them to realize that college can help them

rather than hinder them, and that money shouldn’t be much of a problem because of

financial aid resources. I can even have them attend Game Changer conferences, a

conference that transforms boys into men, or award receptions, much like this one, to

help open their eyes and make them see that there are opportunities out there, if they

only prepare early—step-by-step—in meeting the requirements to take advantage of

them.

In conclusion, college is the next natural step in my life. There’s a lot of

opportunities it provides, and I’m dedicated, ready, and more than willing to see where it

will take me. I want to assist a lot of people, employers, and perhaps, other countries with

their technical problems; and, I know, without a doubt, that college will help me do just

that.