{"id":12525,"date":"2020-04-22T19:22:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T01:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/?p=12525"},"modified":"2020-04-22T19:26:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T01:26:38","slug":"one-college-graduates-thoughts-about-their-college-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/one-college-graduates-thoughts-about-their-college-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"One College Graduate\u2019s Thoughts About Their College Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My daughter Ashley is graduating this Friday from Brigham Young University (go BYU Cougars!) with her Bachelor\u2019s Degree in Entrepreneurial Management. I\u2019m so proud of her!\u00a0 Not just for graduating but for the incredible person she is.\u00a0 A few days ago on social media Ashley shared the following thoughts about her college experience \u2013 after you read them you\u2019ll understand why I am so proud!\u00a0 Here\u2019s her post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RISE AND SHOUT, THIS\nCOUGAR IS OUT (by Ashley Anderson Hill)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since graduation week\nis officially here (and I passed all my finals 😅) I figured I\u2019d share a few thoughts about my whole BYU\nexperience and biggest takeaways.
\n
\n– BYU\u2019s mission is \u201cEnter to learn, go forth the SERVE\u201d.\nNotice it doesn\u2019t say \u201cgo forth to EARN\u201d. If I keep service as my focus moving\nforward, \u201cearning\u201d naturally follows. I really believe that to be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Secular and\nreligious truths can\u2019t be separated. Truth is truth. At BYU you get the full picture, not just the secular piece. Starting\neach class with a prayer to seek for God\u2019s help to learn challenging\/new\nconcepts, receive clarity for tests, and learn religious reasons behind secular\ntruths made all the difference in my education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Knowledge is power. Power is confidence. An education increased my\nconfidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– A formal education helped me to develop patterns for my life that will\nforever benefit me. A few include seeing with new perspectives, becoming a\nskeptic, not giving up, and thinking outside the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Human relationships are necessary to get through anything difficult.\nNothing motivates you like good people with your best interest at heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– There is no downside to college. A degree only opens doors, never\ncloses them. Many times more opportunities come when you take the \u201clong route\u201d.\nSometimes I struggled feeling behind when I saw my peers who dropped out to\nwork full-time were making more money than I was and \u201cgetting ahead\u201d in the\nbusiness world. As my mission President always said, \u201cSlow is fast, and fast is\nslow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– A \u201cformal college education\u201d might not be for everyone depending on\nlearning styles and career choice, but a secondary education after high school\ndefinitely is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Busy does NOT equal productive. In a way college sets you up to fail.\nMore homework, reading, and quizzes than any human can do perfectly. You have\nto learn to prioritize. Just like in life, if you don\u2019t understand the big\npicture you\u2019re just doing busy work and not actually progressing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Education doesn\u2019t come easy. I had to retake a few classes (mostly\nanything that had to do with math…) and really work hard to understand\nchallenging concepts. Anything worth it in the end is never easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My 4 years here were some of the hardest and most rewarding. I know there are so many people who don\u2019t get the same privileges that I do, and I do recognize that I\u2019m incredibly privileged to have received a college education. A huge thank you to all those who helped me get here and set me up for success moving forward! I\u2019m grateful for this past stage in my life, and stoked for the next steps to come! <\/p>\n\n\n\n