I Was Lost In College And Needed To Find Myself

Quintin Scott

Persuasive Essay

4/06/06

"I Was Lost In College And Needed To Find Myself"

When I first came to college, my first semester was a disaster. At first, I had the identity of a college student, waking up, studying for test, handling my responsibilities. In addition, I had money thanks to the Hope scholarship, I had friends, and I was going to all my classes for my education, but it was not long before my attention was distracted by other events. My days consisted of lying in bed, staying over my friend's house playing video games, and smoking. It was like a vacation to me, I wasn't in school and I had all the time to do what I wanted to, too much freedom if you ask me. Class didn't cross my mind, not even when all my friends were going to their classes. I played on an intramural flag football team and I went to the practices more than I went to my classes. At night, I was with a girl, at the club, at a party, intoxicated at a friend's house or at my house playing video games. These were what my days were like from eight in the morning to two the next morning. I lost my identity just as fast as I got it; my identity was a young kid who wasn't a student, it was a person to smoke and drink with, and they wouldn't mention school around me because they knew I didn't go to class. I perceived myself as someone else because that wasn't what I was accustomed to, my identity changed drastically.

I believe that money, friends, and education play the largest role in young college students' identity, because without these a person doesn't have an identity of a student. Money gets you the things that love and emotions can't. Friends are the ones that help you identify your true self. Education is what you are in college for.

College students spend money to improve their identity. You need money to eat, buy groceries, pay your tuition, housing, gas for a car, books, entertainment, clothes, and any other material thing a college student wants. All of these things make you budget your money. I'm a person who enjoys going out to the club, movies, bowling alley, basically anything that keeps me from being cooped up in the house or out of trouble. I need money to entertain myself; it keeps me from being bored. Without money you can't make it in life and definitely not in college. I can recall many of times, where I wanted to go to the club but I only had five dollars and I hadn't ate anything since that morning. That was a hard decision to make because all of my friends were going to the club that night and I didn't want to be the lame and stay home. I had to eat, so I stayed home. When you're low on money, you savor every meal like it's your last one. My friend, Duane, brought his car down to Georgia Southern; at first he would give everyone a ride free of charge, until he ran out of money and started charging people for rides to the store and to the Landrum cafeteria. His identity switched from a friend looking out for other friends to a taxi cab driver, with rates. Also, you need money for clothes; I'm self-conscious of my looks so I buy new clothes to improve my look, because first impressions are very important especially in college. I don't want people to get the wrong impression of me and think I'm poor or don't know how to dress, due to the fact that my clothes aren't up to par. The clothes don't necessarily have to be new but if you're going for the professional look they need to be crispy clean or whatever look you're going for. People respond differently to a person's look. People can tell want kind of background you come from by the money you have, either your family has it or you worked hard for it. You buy books and other things at the campus store, not knowing that these things increase your identity as a student. The backbreaking books in an oversized book bag make a person look like they're in college. Money separates