The Ol' College Try

I am twenty-one years old and a senior in college. I am 10 months and 10 days away from graduating with a bachelor of science in computer science and a bachelor of arts in history. I have spent my entire life preparing to go out into the "real world". You know how it feels the week of the first football game each season or the opening night of play when you have put weeks of practice for this one moment? That is the kind of feeling that is starting to well up in me. Sixteen years of schooling filled with sports, clubs, organizations, and relationships are all surmounting to this. So what about it?

This last week I have had several moments where my conscience has pulled away from what I was doing to take a look at the broader picture. My friends and I are at the pinnacle of our lives where all the preparation is ready to demonstrate its worth. We do not have all the talent or skills we will need, but that does not stop us from feeling all the confidence in the world. The reason is we are realizing there is little more for us to be taught before we have experience to compound it with.

I have decided against grad school because I feel it is time to go make an impact on the world. I will add that I do fully believe I can do anything. We were all raised on the idea. Remember when you were in high school and starting to think about what you might want to do with the rest of your life? Remember when you were a kid on the playground playing out your dreams? Remember when you were in middle school sports and your coaches told you that you could be professional athlete if you only dedicated yourself to it? I grew up watching Michael Jordan. I own Space Jam to this day. Its soundtrack has the song "I Believe I Can Fly". It pretty much sums up the whole idea.

Obama's "Yes, We Can" campaign is occurring at the perfect time in my life. The idea gives me a charge, an inspiration. However, it is not simply about the fact that we can do anything. I want to be able to look back and say, "Yeah, we did." If there is one thing I want to accomplish in my life, it is to leave the world a better place than I found it. Before you think I am some hippie, that is not it at all. I want to make an impact that results in a better quality of life. That can come simply from making the people around me more respectful or whether it is a technological revolution in the way we live our lives. Ideally, it would be both. I guess now it is just reaching the time to go give life "the ol' college try."