Meet Tim. He is a community college student starting up his second year.
And he is scared to death.
Tim had a really, really rough spring semester. Tim's grandfather passed away, and both his aunt and uncle are in the hospital. His car won't stop breaking down, so he needs to spend hours a day on the bus to get to work (where he needs to sit in the break room in order to have WiFi to log onto classes).
However, since his mother started drinking again, being at home is even worse. A lot of times, he's left to take care of his younger brothers, both of which are having a rough time in middle school.
Tim has never felt so alone.
I'm sure you've heard some of these types of stories, and worse, from your friends. Maybe you experienced some of those circumstances yourself, or even worse.
School can feel like the least important thing in the world during times of crisis, and it's hard to know how to turn the semester around.
But Tim did.
And so can you.
One day over the summer break, Tim, needing a break from the house, took a walk into the city. He suddenly realized that the library in his hometown had WiFi and air conditioning, so he wandered in. He had not seen a library since an elementary school class trip.
Sometimes one step... literally... can change everything.
Over the summer, he spent every free minute he could pouring over free books, and realized some of his personal heroes had written autobiographies. It had never occurred to him to go looking for stories of individuals he admired. Especially those about Black men, whose mentorship he pined for.
Tim was surprised to find out that many of these men struggled in school, battled with addictions, were born into poverty, and were often the first in their family to attempt college or an ambitious career.
It occurred to Tim that in the midst of all the struggles, he had lost sight of the whole reason why he was in school: to become clinical psychologist. He also noticed that all of the top-selling bestsellers, written by doctors and researchers to help readers better their lives, were written by White authors. Although these books were helpful to some extent, he noticed a missing link. A piece of the puzzle that would have helped kids like him.
Well, yeah, Oprah had written some, but those didn't exactly speak to him. And he was pretty sure that most students like him wouldn't be curling up with research journals. There needed to be something in-between, that was accessible to everyone.
Once Tim saw where he could make a contribution, and resolved to keep making positive steps forward. One at a time.
Tim realized that there was one benefit to feeling so low... that just about any action towards this vision of being a doctor and an author made him feel better.
He began to think about the last semester, and why he hated his classes so much; it was really hard to be motivated when he wasn't taking any psychology courses.
When he received one of those emails from his academic advisor that he used to ignore, he responded and made a Zoom appointment. A quick Google Search showed him how to use his phone to dial in, so he could meet the advisor from anywhere.
Together, they found out that Tim was in the wrong major entirely, and that he had actually been placed in a writing class that was too easy for him. Within twenty minutes, Tim had a schedule that excited him. His advisor, who he had never met, was actually a woman of color, and pointed out to him certain courses that would be of special interest. There was even a psychology club that he never knew existed, that was now meeting online.
Tim was astonished. How could he feel so much more in control in one hour?
It was two weeks before the semester, and Tim was already registered. He'd even made a Zoom appointment with a financial advisor at the college, who helped him figure out how to get his aid money earlier than last year.
Tim actually felt excited to begin, so logged on to his course Blackboard pages early. He ran into some stumbling blocks, but found some online trainings through the school website and on Youtube.
As it turned out, nearly all of the instructors had included information about the courses, what books to buy, and some had even suggested activities to do to "warm up" for the semester.
Tim noticed that Blackboard had a calendar, but it wasn't compatible with his phone. However, he found a new app that had a notification tone that he actually listened to, and before the semester even began he had all of the school breaks, exam periods, registration deadlines penciled in.
He realized that if he asked months in advance that his boss would probably be lenient with this much notice, so he arranged to have the week of midterms and finals off of work. His boss almost fainted.
And this was all before opening one book.
It would never have occurred to Tim to try it before, but since he had extra time, he contacted the Advisor of the Psychology Club. As it turned out, they were hosting a "back-to-school" online hangout.
Tim had never really thought about using his fellow students as resources, but it turned out that many of them had experienced the same issues as him last year. One of the students lived on his block, and offered for Tim to come by and study on his porch anytime. Another student knew of a tutoring opportunity that paid twice as much as Tim's current job, and was completely online. Another invited Tim to the campus Black Student Union Facebook group, something Tim never knew existed.
As it turned out, many of the students had a similar schedule to Tim's; one even leant Tim all of his textbooks. Several of the students invited Tim to their weekly online study group. Tim, who was a very social guy, hadn't realized that maybe networking with other students was as critical as connecting with teachers.
Finally, the first day of classes came, one of which was going to meet synchronously, at 10:00 AM. Tim wasn't much of a morning person, so he set an alarm so he could be up, make breakfast for his little brothers, get them on the school bus, and head out the door before his class.
Tim, knowing he had spotty Wifi and lots of distractions at home, reserved a room at the City Library to use.
Knowing how to use the Library login, Tim had no problem signing on at 9:55 AM, and even made some small talk with the instructor, who ended up being a member of the Church Tim was baptized in. When the instructor went over the syllabus, Tim realized he had actually finished everything for the first week already, and could... he could barely believe it... get a week ahead on the homework.
He opened each of his three asynchronous classes, and blasted through the first two days' homework in two hours. In two of the classes, he was the first to post on a discussion thread.
Tim realized how focused he felt first thing in the morning, so made an appointment with the librarian to use the same room the next week.
He packed up his books, and headed over to his new friend's porch to take some online tutoring appointments. By 6:00 PM, he had finished his homework, made $60, and, he couldn't believe it, actually had the time and mental space to go to the park for a few hours.
Now, the semester wasn't all sunshine and roses.
Tim's mother had a bad relapse, and, on more than one occasion, locked Tim out of the house when she was passed out. Another time he needed to go to the hospital to sign forms for his Aunt and Uncle, which meant he missed classes.
However, Tim had learned a valuable lesson about "banking" his time and money. Having a few hundred dollars in his checking account meant that he didn't need to worry about grabbing food on the go occasionally. In fact, because he no longer had to commute to work, he had a lot more time. He also found that since he turned in work early most of the time, the few occasions where he missed a deadline, professors tended to work with him.
Tim had never realized that the school, or the community, had his back.
Tim's story may seem a bit "pie-in-the-sky," and it was intended to be. But ask yourself: are any of the steps Tim took truly impossible?
As you begin this semester, consider asking yourself the following:
- Who are the mentors who actually speak to me? Are there ways to keep them "with" me at all times?
- What is it that I want to be doing in 2, 5, 20 years? Am I studying those things now? If not, what would it take to make a change?
- Have I actually used all of the tools that come with my tuition to make sure that I, the consumer, am getting my money's worth out of college?
- Have I overlooked any way I can network with other students?
- Am I making the most money I can? Is there another opportunity where I can earn more money for school using one of my marketable skills?
- Am I ready to take my first baby step today?
Credits:
Created with images by Sam Balye - "The boys in the back" • Nathan Dumlao - "untitled image" • Richard Felix - "I hope you enjoyed this photo!" • Prateek Katyal - "Instagram : @kpbiglife"