College at a Glance

What is the main goal of going to college? Is it to find a heavily valued education? Finding a career interest? Or even to go make new lifelong friends?

My senior year of high school is when I started to have the thoughts of where I wanted to go to college and what my aspirations would be after high school. The thoughts of playing football, pursuing an FFA State Office position, or even going to work were all going through my mind. Once I decided on a place to go, I had it all planned out of what I was going to do while at college and what my priorities were going to be. Instead of sticking to my decision, I decided to change my mind and go to Iowa State University instead of my original plan of a community college. Now that I’m at Iowa State, I have realized how happy it makes me be here. Never would I have expected to be at a large school studying agriculture with some of my lifelong friends. The decisions I had to make were very difficult, but very rewarding when all said and done.

My advice to anyone struggling to make a choice about something would definitely be to keep an open mind. Having an open mind will allow you to see the possibilities that you might have missed in your initial thoughts. Another piece of advice I have would be to ask questions. Asking questions to those friends or family members that have a load of experience will help you get a wide range of perspective on the options that are in front of you. My final piece of advice is probably the most important of all. Don’t let others make YOUR decision for you. It is your life and your future so it is up to you to make decisions that will lead you on the right track.

Now that you have that advice in mind, I would like you to revisit the questions at the beginning of the blog. Push yourself to think outside the box and come up with ideas about what you think your college experience should be like. Think about what you value about your education and how you can use those values to make a good decision. Pursue things you never thought you would pursue because, in the end, it is about the experiences that you will cherish. Lastly, I want everyone to know that you are not alone in these situations. Everyone has tough decisions to make in their own lives so having confidence that everything will be ok is very important.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lane Morrison

Southeast State Vice President