“When I was twelve years old, I decided I wanted to go to Georgetown because a Google search for ‘good law schools’ generated this university as a top choice. I didn’t know anything about college, and I don’t know why I was looking for law schools as a twelve year old, but I knew that my principal’s daughter was in law school and she was really nice. I wanted to be just like her.
Thing is, as a first-generation college student and the daughter of two Polish immigrants, I came by a lot of research that way. I learned by observing others, listening to people’s advice and reading lots of biographies. Stories – particularly the good ones – have a special place in my heart because they are source of my inspiration.
Over the course of these past four years, Georgetown has served as the most wonderful kind of library – one that, in my imagination, is obviously far better looking than Lau. Not only have I had the chance to gather the stories of so many fascinating peers and professors, but it’s a place where I have had the chance to craft a story beyond my wildest dreams. Coming from a small town in Illinois, I never thought I would befriend the kind of people I did or attend events with figures I’d only ever seen on T.V. I experienced some of my best moments in life so far right here.
But like any story worth reading, it’s come with conflicts, disappointments and plot-twists. For starters I was rejected from the first club I applied to (and then at least another five after that) and failed an exam I studied 20 hours for. On a deeper level, I experienced some truly devastating and difficult episodes. And, honestly, thank God for those hard times. Because my story would be so dull without them and my character would be the same as it was before I entered college.
It’s only beginning, really, but my hope for my life is that it will be story worth reading. When I frame it that way, it makes a difficult period a little easier to get through because hey, who knows, maybe it’ll be worth a page-turning chapter one day. “
