Graduation opens a new chapter

When asked why I attended Florida A&M, I always reference something my father always said to me: “Genius is 90 percent sweat and 10 percent smarts.”
I wanted to be surrounded by individuals who not only looked like me, but conquered diversity and wanted to succeed.
FAMU has offered me numerous opportunities and provided plenty of networking experiences. As a political science student with a minor in public relations, I have joined organizations such as Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society, the diversity department of FAMU’s Student Government Association, the Center for Global Security and International Affairs, Women of Culture and many more. Through networking experiences on campus, I have joined organizations off campus such as New Mount Zion AME Church, Black on Black Rhyme Poetry Troupe and Noble Lady Holmes #430 Order of Eastern Star.
To my future Rattlers, FAMU is your oyster. Despite the occasionally negative attention our university receives, this school prepares you for the “real world” by providing you with opportunities that will change your life. How those opportunities are reached is what most successful people would consider their story. You have the esteemed responsibility of taking your dreams and goals and making them a reality. That sometimes means changing the way you perceive things.
By being accepted into the university, you have already crushed a plethora of stereotypes about young minorities. But don’t just stop there. Attend classes and seek knowledge. Be the student in class that takes the time to research information on top of completing work assigned in class.
During my attendance at the university, I realized that my competition for real-world jobs started in the classroom. So, early on in my matriculation, I changed my major and chose a field that I was passionate about and stuck to it.
The downfall of many students is that they choose careers to satisfy someone else’s dreams, goals and aspirations. Being afraid to pursue your dreams because someone else believes there is no money to be made in the field is detrimental to your success. If you truly love what you do, the money will come. Make your own path to what you would consider success.
Graduating from FAMU does not mean the end. Graduation is only a commencement of a new chapter in my life. As the saying goes, “I have bigger fish to fry.” FAMU helped craft the very foundation that will help me conquer every future obstacle put in my way. Let’s face it, if you can conquer the highest of seven hills, you can be victorious anywhere.