Writing a check for two-hundred dollars a month to a loan company is burning a hole in

your wallet. Looking at the piece of paper with your name and major makes you dwell on the
good times you had in college. These are just a few examples of what a college degree means to
current students and college graduates. Each student tells their own story about graduating
college. As I graduate in December of 2015, I began reflecting on my college career at Kent
State University. I remember the challenges I faced every semester and the adversity that
overcame those challenges. College provided me with opportunities that led me down to a career
path. The experiences from attending a football media day and working at an internet radio
station provided me with the tools and skills to me for the real world after college. A college
degree is a life story of my college career.
I learned throughout college that obtaining my college diploma will take a lot of hard work,
self- discipline, and time. The first two years of college I started at the Kent State Geauga
campus. I didnt decide on a major and planned to take the required Kent State requirement
classes until I moved to the main campus and decide on a major. I chose this plan because I did
not know the right path. I decided that gaining the experience as a college student for the first
two years will help me decide on what my major will be. I wanted to take general courses up to
the end of my sophomore year because all the different fields of study would show what abilities
I have and what my strong suit can be.
The first two years of my college career were difficult for myself. As I wrote previously,
I started out at the Kent State Geauga branch campus. Transitioning from high school to college
became difficult. The high school I attended was a public school, where education standards
were low. As a student I was mediocre. I had the ability to obtain knowledge easily, but I did
not apply to myself I should have. Unfortunately, this carried out to the freshman year of

college. There have been two wake-up calls Ive had so far in my life. The first wake-up call
occurred my freshman year. I was enrolled in a college writing class and seeing how I didnt put
the effort and time into my work resulted in poor grades. I did pass the class but I was at the
brink of failing. The college writing class would consider a C-a failing grade. I received a C
as my final grade. After experiencing a stressful first semester, I knew that it was time to take
college seriously.
Throughout my first year of college, I began to realize the importance of education. I
started to self-discipline myself and focusing on school work. I knew that putting as much effort
into school will benefit me after I am finished with college. I began to ask my professors
questions on certain theories or math problems. My focus was to push the extra mile into my
school work, or work harder. I wanted to prove myself that I can put the effort and work and
become successful by studying and working hard. I wanted to show myself that the amount of
work you apply can lead to great opportunities in the future. Sacrificing time from friends and
using that time to work on homework in the library became essential to my improvement in
school.
At the conclusion of my sophomore year, I decided to transfer to the main campus and
decide on a major. I chose to major in Applied Communications. There are a few accolades I
persist in. I am a great communicator and have ability to socialize with different groups of
people. These were key factors to why I decided on my major. My tagline is I like to talk a lot,
I might as well put it to good use. Being comfortable with my decision, I knew there would be
obstacles ahead of me.
Starting out my junior year of school, there were a few challenges that surfaced. First, I
was getting adjusted to living away from home. Second, the first week of classes I started falling

behind. I was enrolled in a gender communication class where reading content every day
became homework. I did not read all the content that was assigned to me and it resulted to
deduction of points. The third obstacle I faced involved myself taking time away from school to
do extracurricular activities outside of campus such as playing video games with my roommates
and going out to party. This suffered my effort and time to focus on my school and bounce back.
However, I had another wakeup call once again that make me shift my mentality to being a
dedicated student.
I had received a phone call from my mother one night that made me think about the poor
decisions I was making at the time. The phone call made me reflect how fortunate I was to be
where I am as a student and how my mother did not have the opportunity as I have to be in
college for more than two years. It was my sentimental motivation to be a better student. I
wanted my mother to be proud of what I achieved so far in college and I did not want to let her
down. I faced these obstacles by emailing and contacting all professors if I needed help with any
course content. I visited my gender and communication professor in her office every day
because I had complications on understanding certain theories. I felt better about how I was
approaching these obstacles and I maintained a plan throughout the semester.
When my grades improved, rewards were given to me. The biggest reward I achieved
was being part of the 2013 MAC Media Day in Detroit, Michigan. I applied online to join
students from other schools of the Mid-American Conference to take part of the football media
day. Students who were selected had the opportunities to meet with the commissioner of the
conference, meeting all the football coaches face to face, and interview two football players
representing their own school. Fortunately, I was selected as the Kent State student
representative. The chance to join this opportunity made myself reflect that I was rewarded for

working hard in school. I knew from then on that working hard in school will lead me to greater
opportunities.
From my junior year to the end of this semester, my mentality about school became
School first, fun after. I wanted to approach that school will always be my first job regardless
if I was working part time at a fast food restaurant or at a retail store. I always put school as my
first priority because I wanted my mother to be proud of my academic achievements. This
became a motivation factor for graduating college.
As my last semester approached, I was able to get a grasp on how to balance my lifestyle
while being in college. It is sad to say I finally had a full understanding of what it is like to
become a college student at the end of my college career. Nevertheless, I had full control of my
destiny on where my career path will take me.
I was able to figure out my work field when I had an opportunity to join a fantastic
company called KRMA Internet Radio in Kent, Ohio. I got the opportunity to work as a
marketing intern in September of 2015. Some of the responsibilities as a marketer was to create
an attractive sales packet that would give potential suitors a chance to advertise for their
company on a radio show. One the biggest challenges I faced during my tenure was creating the
sales packet through visual design software. Visual design software such as Adobe InDesign and
Illustrator was a great challenge for myself. It was a challenge because I had to show my
capabilities as an innovator and a marketer. This challenge was time consuming and it led to
countless all-nighters.
The final product the sales packet was satisfying for the customers and to the radio
station employees. Other obstacles I faced were meeting with other radio hosts. In order to meet

other criteria during my tenure, it was crucial to meet with other radio hosts. Communication
was key to contact the hosts and converse about the station, what their opinions were on specific
documents and meetings. As mentioned before, this obstacle was time consuming because of
scheduling conflicts. Thankfully, I was able to meet with all of the radio hosts.
This experience interning at KRMA Internet Radio was the highlight of my college
career. Understanding the concepts of marketing and communicating in an organization
provided me with knowledge of what my working career could entail. It was bittersweet to be
leaving a great group of individuals who became my mentors. In my opinion, I thought working
at KRMA was the icing on the cake to achieving my college degree in a manner.
From my freshman to senior year at Kent State University, I can look back and conclude
that I overcame all the obstacles I faced. However, there will be challenges that will lie in the
near future. I know time management and balancing out my lifestyle will resurface when I move
to Washington D.C. in January of 2016. I will be working at Sherwin Williams as a manager in
training. The lifestyle from moving away from Ohio and transitioning from a student to an
employee will be challenging. Fortunately from past experiences, I will be able to approach
these challenges similar to the obstacles I faced in college. Sacrificing down time to focus on
work will benefit myself in the future. Opportunities can arise that could potentially lead myself
into a higher level position.
What does it mean to get a degree? My degree is a life story. A degree in college is a
written timeline of all the events starting my freshman year of school to the moment I walk up on
the stage in December to receive my diploma. It is a reflection of the obstacles that challenged
me to become the student and person I am today. My degree represents not only myself, but my
mother. She sacrificed everything imaginable for me to be in a position that I am in today.

Graduating from college would mean everything to her. Getting a degree has more meaning than
students realize. To say that a college degree is just simply a piece of paper is wrong. A college
degree has a different meaning for every student.