Let me take you back to the semester before I graduated high school. I was indecisive about where I wanted to go to college. The summer before my high school graduation, I attended LIM鈥檚 Summer Fashion Lab for two weeks. I took four classes (Fashion Magazines, The Stylist鈥檚 Role, Visual Display, and 鈥淧roject Fashion鈥) and absolutely loved it! But, I wasn鈥檛 sure I saw myself living in such a big city like NYC. I decided instead to go to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) down in Georgia.
I was excited about attending SCAD, and friends from high school were going to attend, so I didn't feel alone. Orientation week approached, and I was feeling uneasy about this transition because I didn鈥檛 know what to expect. I was worried about my future. So many thoughts were coming all at once.
My mom and dad moved me into my new dorm. I had never shared a room with anybody, let alone people I didn鈥檛 know. Two other girls were dorming with me. Orientation week ended, and it was time to say goodbye to my parents. Wow, what a hard moment. I cried the whole time. I didn鈥檛 know how I was going to adjust.
I started classes, and I quickly realized I didn鈥檛 fit in. I was taking design classes where professors expected me to know how to draw鈥擨 couldn鈥檛 even draw a stick figure. 鈥淲hat have I gotten myself into?鈥 To make matters worse, I didn鈥檛 like the people I was dorming with. We were so different, and we couldn鈥檛 find common ground on anything.
I said to myself, 鈥淕ive this a chance and see what happens,鈥 but as the weeks passed, I found myself sadder and sadder. This wasn鈥檛 the right choice, and I needed to make a change.
I started looking into transferring schools. I immediately thought about LIM, where I鈥檇 had that great experience as a high school student. I thought, 鈥淲ould I be able to do it? Move alone to NYC and start all over?鈥 It was a risk I was willing to take.
I applied to LIM and got accepted. As the weeks went by and finals came and went, I started feeling more relaxed. Christmas break came, and I started packing for NYC. Now, I was so excited鈥攊t had always been my dream to study in New York, and I was about to make it happen.
I arrived at LIM and told myself to get as involved as possible at school. It really helped with my transition and making friends. I joined any club I could find that interested me, like the Styling Club and the Student Life Activities Board (SLAB), which took us to different restaurants around the city once a month! I also became a Student Mentor for incoming students at orientation and throughout the year, helping make their transition as smooth as possible. Plus, I started a retail position at Ann Taylor, where I met my BFF! None of this would have been possible if I had not made the decision to step out of my comfort zone and say yes to new things.
LIM made me feel like I belonged because it was so different from my previous college. Also, I'd finally found my academic niche, focusing on business rather than design.
There's a lesson to learn from every situation. What happened at SCAD motivated me to grow and get more involved at LIM. I strongly believe that starting my LIM experience when I did enabled me to make my life what it is now. It made me stronger, more eager, and more passionate.