High School to College

Congratulations, you've almost reached the end.

There are a lot of benefits to being done with high school. There are a lot of consequences, too. But, for the most part, there's just a lot of life out there to live. So far, you've been following a plan according to the desires of society and your parents. However, that plan ends here. You have reached a point where there are no set roads to follow, only guidance and support of your friends and family. You are about to step off the cliff into the unknown.

So, as you lean out over the unknown below you, you have a choice to make. You can fall, refusing the support offered or turn your back on the lessons you've worked so hard to learn, or you can learn to fly.

Five True Things College Students Don't Say

1. There are few victims, mainly participants. For the most part, no one is going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to be at the party, don't go. If the situation gets bad, leave. If you can't leave under your own power, ask for help.

2. You can always quit. You can choose not to go to class, drop out, get a nine to five job, and pay off your loans. People can be successful without a degree, but give some thought to what you want to be doing in 5 years. Most often it takes additional education and training to get that perfect job, but there are options on how to get there.

3. Second place will not make you as famous as first place. Everyone remembers the first man on the moon, but few remember the second. Followers are rarely as documented as leaders, and unoriginal thoughts and things are often overlooked entirely. If you want to be appreciated for your talents, it will take work, time, persistence, and luck.

4. Rules are good. Rules are a society's way of defining what we believe to be right. They ensure everyone can get an education, a job, or become a better person. They also define what will happen if they are ignored. In an unpredictable world, it's nice to know everyone is playing by the same rules as you, and have the same consequences.

5. Hope fails people who fail it. We get up in the morning because we have hope it will be a great day. We go to school because we hope it will teach us something. We get jobs because we hope to do something useful with our time. We have children because we hope we can give them a life as good, if not better, than we had. And those children grow up hoping to prove their parents right; that all their hopes were worth it. It's sentimental but true; and hope makes it possible.

The CopperHare