So, no, I have not always loved school, but:

I have always loved learning.  

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

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 my five community college 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, the passion faded.  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.