PATIENCE
PATIENCE “The lesson that I’ve taken away is that it isn’t wrong to say, ‘the slow one wins the race.’” If you take it slower, chances are everything plays out the way it should, so I like to follow that rule as much as possible in my life.”
CONTINUING
“I recently found something that does actually help...it's surprising, but—hey—it works, so that's nice... Now, I'm trying to get a general transfer in science, so I can...go for web development. Basically, if anyone has a similar diagnosis as me—either Asperger's...or anxiety or OCD—just know if you go to college, you can do it."
TRY
“I’ve never actually sat down and said, you know, I want to do something that’s going to better the world, but, you know, I’ve got to try it out.”
BREAKING CYCLES
“You’re never too old to learn. Because I’m now 52, and I started this when I was 48. I’m grandmother of eight…and in me going to college now, I’m showing my grandchildren that, yes, college is important.”.
RESET
“One day, I was sitting at my computer desk, and I was like, ‘I’m really sick of being depressed,’ and that was that—like cold turkey, a complete 180.”
HURDLES
“I’ve suffered from epilepsy since I was nine… Missing classes is a huge hurdle.”
AGENCY
“I have cerebral palsy, and I grew up in the medical system, right, which is just a rough land to live in. The thing that I had to cope with while piecing myself together is that I can say no, now. When I was growing up, I had no ability to say no to anything that was happening to me.”
EXPERIENCE
“I thought, you know, just about everything out there has got computers, and I didn’t know how to run one. So, I figured I’d better go to school..”
RESILIENCE
“Factors that have benefited my sobriety and my recovery—school and education. There are a lot of ideals that I believe—like, I know for myself—that I was raised with, that I learned. Coming to college has led me to realize what is actually relevant, and I can drop those old ideals and gain new ones.”
THE SMART ONE
“My older sister was the smart one, I was the one with the big heart that cared, and my little sister she was the pretty one. And we were all categorized into these little places and so I always did horrible in school, because I wasn’t the smart one, so I didn’t have to.”