I have always loved learning.  

And once I found myself seated in Building 16 at the College of San Mateo at seventeen years old, I finally felt the mix of inspiration and academia. 

Yes, in the time I spent at my local college, some folks my age had already graduated from their "4+1" business programs at 'prestigious' universities.  They were listing an MBA on their first slew of job applications while I was filling out my demographic information to apply to the CSU schools that minimized my commute.   

But in those five years, I tried so many different paths. 

I tried the path of the well-mannered math major who would transfer to SJSU with an engineering lean, but by God, I just couldn't stand it!  I loved my first semester of calculus, but after that, it didn't sit right with me.  Dread replaced passion, resentment replaced fulfillment: it was time to move on.

So then I tried the path of the bubbly accounting major (yes, you read that right) who would go on to get their CPA license and work for a big firm--but on meeting real individuals who worked in FiDi like I had once dreamed, I couldn't have wanted anyone's lifestyle less.  For three years, I shot darts and just about missed every single one, but I was becoming a better and better student with each passing semester.

And all the while, I was sneaking in music classes: first to satisfy basic gen-ed requirements, then "just for kicks."  But ultimately, I took them because they were the only classes I truly wanted to take.  Every fiber of my being wanted to know more about music, music theory, music history--and then, when Professor Jane Jackson explained to me the very concept of ear-training, I remember vividly thinking "this is the superpower I have wanted all my life."  When I signed up for her Musicianship course cycle, Professor Jackson took me aside and--well, here's where it gets a little fuzzy. 

I can't remember if she encouraged me to be a music major, or explained to me that I was a music major, and it was time for me to just sort out my forms at the paperwork level and solidify it.  Either way, she was absolutely right.  And I can't be more grateful to her, and to the amazing music faculty that I was so lucky to learn under, for illuminating the path that ultimately led me to further life-changing studies beneath Dr.s Ben Sabey and Michael Gilbertson.  

So yes, I spent five years at community college, but I stand by the fact that I did not waste a single minute there. 

In my mind, this is truly what college is for: finding your passions, finding your boundaries, and finding yourself.  Part of me cannot believe that I'm publishing this--if I had any more sorority-leaning inclinations, the sentiment could be absolutely gag-worthy.  Yet I believe every word of it, and I stand by it. 

And I am beyond thrilled to give this back to the next generation of students who sat where I once did, not so long ago.