by Gianni Risper
Since August 2008, I’ve been a student at Lansing Community College (LCC). I just finished my first term and I’ve started my spring term.
Before I registered for my classes, I walked into administration and the first roadblock. I graduated early from high school and you need parental permission if you’re under 18 to enroll in college classes. Even with my mom there I still had to prove I graduated.
So after going home and getting my high school diploma, which had been proudly displayed in my room since I got it on Graduation Day. Since June it was something that I looked at every morning before I left my house. All summer long and to this day it reminds me of Graduation Day, one of the happiest days of my life.
So after I proved to LCC that I did indeed graduate high school with the proper amount of credits, it took forever to set up an appointment with a counselor and after I signed up for classes, I was so excited to begin my first semester at LCC.
For my first semester I took U.S. History, World Geography, and College Algebra. My classes took me by surprise. I definitely enjoy college much more than high school. The classes I took were interesting and they challenged me more than my high school classes.
Throughout the semester, I worked hard, but when midterms came around, the workload definitely surprised me. I stayed up for three days straight to finish my midterm essays.
I guess that was one of the things I wasn’t really ready for when I came to college. I did my best until finals were over. I made a valiant effort to finish out my term well.
Another thing I didn’t expect was how much better college is than high school. There’s no restriction of creativity, no ridiculous rules and no suppressing structure. The students are very mature and the noise level was low. High school hallways are very noisy. The sense of freedom was overwhelming and took a little while to get used to but in the end I think I did well for my first semester of college at 16.
This semester I’m taking Writing and Math. I’m a little more experienced. The most difficult part is when I can’t partake in conversations about the ’80’s or early ’90’s because I wasn’t alive or old enough to remember.
This semester, I’ll put in the work. I advise all freshman college students not to slack off on studying because one chapter may put you way behind and you’re not in high school any more. There’ll be no second chances so do your very best from the beginning of the class until the end.
Excuse me, are you
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