School: Auburn University 

Major: Civil Engineering

My whole life, I’ve hated the unknown. 

But right now, I don’t have much of a choice. I’ve committed to a university 600 miles from Kirkwood, and come August I’ll pack up my entire life, fear of the unknown and all, and move. I’ll have an unknown roommate, attend unknown classes and talk to unknown people.

But I think that’s OK. I’ve been forced to change before, and each time I’ve learned from it. One of the hardest changes I faced in high school came the spring of junior year when I was cut from the KHS baseball team. I played baseball for over a decade, committed countless hours to it, and now some high school coach said I was done playing. I got up on a Friday morning in early March and by 5 p.m., that door of my life was slammed in my face and locked shut. At that moment, I could not have imagined anything worse. 

But as most adventures in life go, as one door closed, another opened, beckoning me inside. The very next day I joined the KHS tennis team, a sport I played recreationally for years but never pursued. And just like that, I had a new sport with new friends, and most importantly, I felt like I had a place again. Change had been forced upon me and I was still standing. 

I know this happy ending doesn’t always happen. There’s not always a silver lining and life is very much real. But somewhere along the way, fear of the unknown seems to have lost its tight grasp on me. I feel just a little bit freer, ready to explore the world just a little bit more. 

Because, at the end of the day, what option do I have? The unknown is coming and I might as well embrace it.