This piece is dedicated to the students of Blinn TEAM.  Though it may be difficult to persist , keep moving toward your worthy dreams.  You are truly capable of anything, and a title does not define your potential. 
  
After leaving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – the only place I had ever called home – I took a chance [to get] away from my mother and try to work toward my future in the Blinn TEAM program.  Since moving to College Station and attending both Texas A&M and Blinn, I finally had the opportunity to focus on my education and experience something entirely different than anything from before – you know, the stereotypical clichés of attending college.  I did not grow up fascinated with Texas A&M, and I was not educated on the caring, meaningful culture that the school and area had to offer.  However, as I became more aware of Texas A&M’s promise, I knew I could take the unique qualities of the university and apply it to my personal vision and mission. 
  
When I finished my rushed application to Texas A&M the night it was due, I was eager to believe that my efforts from junior and senior year of high school could redeem my true potential and show how much I had grown.  Before, I was an indifferent student who did not have much interest in an education or its promising benefits.  Then, I became a leader that grew to better understand the full potential of what an education could provide in and outside of the classroom.  It was becoming a drum major for the band that caused that dramatic evolution in my habits and determination.  I thought it was enough. 
  
Internally, I had some doubts about getting into school – was it too late for me to turn my life around?  After I applied, I waited anxiously as so many of my peers received their acceptance letters and scholarships.  The waiting continued, weeks turning into months, until finally I checked my application: ”Accepted, Blinn TEAM.”  I did not make it.  What even is Blinn TEAM?  My friend explained to me what the message had meant and my ego was put in check.  For that moment, I thought I deserved better – I thought I was entitled to a full-time position at Texas A&M. 
  
I looked into my opportunities for school more and more. Do I take the safe bet of staying in North Texas and going to UNT, follow my dreams of attending OU, or give it a shot down at a university I never fully considered part of Aggieland?  I finally made the decision to attend Texas A&M despite the internal strife I felt about receiving the Blinn TEAM distinction, forcing me to earn my way into Texas A&M full-time.  For months, I was pained with imposter syndrome that made me think I did not deserve a chance at a university.  
  
In retrospect, the classes and lifestyle have been challenging for the last five – going on six – years, but the deepest test of my character to this very day was to remain determined while other students denounced and criticized Blinn TEAM and the students within the program.  When I attended Fish Camp prior to the Fall 2015 semester, the incoming freshmen were given the opportunity to ask about anything involving Texas A&M and the surrounding community. I bravely stood around my peers to ask how TEAM students are treated on and around campus relative to other students.  The counselors initially hesitated. Then one responded incompletely, “If you don’t tell anyone that you are on Blinn TEAM, then no one will know.” 
  
Imposter syndrome set in once again. Do I even deserve to be here? Why would I not tell people that I am on Blinn TEAM? Fear and internal disputes about my future were present for many days after returning to College Station from Fish Camp.  However, from the many lessons I had previously learned from my dedicated mother and the steep climb to several leadership positions in high school, anything is possible.  I was on a mission to get into Texas A&M full-time, not out of shame or in spite of being on Blinn TEAM, but to show everyone just what a TEAM student is capable of. 
 

The Spirit of Aggieland is very much real and is part of why I have remained motivated to pursue my future and to support the journeys of those around me.  But in my nearly six years here, I have seen so many students waste away beautiful opportunities because they care little about being here, even when they were accepted as full-time students.  However, the challenge was rooted much more deeply.  Ridicule from full-time Texas A&M students was obvious, but the indifferent aura that I felt from other Blinn students and their frustration from wanting to just get this particular part of their journey over made it difficult to stay motivated about my opportunity – my second chance – to attend college. 
  
Some days it was painful to hear and see the students around me persist in their nonchalance while receiving scholarships and blowing off classes, while I was working just for the opportunity to be on the same playing field.  It was irritating and demeaning at times, but I continued to focus onbalancing school, work, and my personal life at the highest possible level.  Once I realized that I was on my own journey and not confined to what others prescribed for me, I was unhindered in my voyage toward my full potential.  Imposter syndrome?  No, I earned my spot in this program that was a second chance for something much more.  This was the opportunity that I never knew I needed.