Below is a guest post from the author of Community College Success, Isa Adney. You can connect with her on Twitter @IsaAdney or Facebook.com/CCSuccess
When Joshua Trader graduated high school in 2004, his parents gave him two choices: go to college or get a full time job.
Joshua spent his growing up years in Sanford, Michigan, watching his parents work very hard for little pay in order to put food on the table for him and his five siblings. Joshua loved and appreciated his parents’ struggles, but he didn’t want to repeat them, and though college would be the answer: “I wasn’t excited about college, but I thought it would be better than work.”
Halfway through his first semester at the nearby Delta College, Joshua became bored. Driving 35 minutes to campus, sitting through hours of classes, and then driving back home began to hold little reward for him. “It got old really quick,” he says of his routine. “I had no motivation, no real reason for college; I just thought it would be the better choice.” The lack of interest showed in his grades; he was failing.
College was Joshua’s choice – no one was forcing him to go. So when he decided he didn’t want to do it anymore he dropped out before the first semester ended. He got a full time job running a rock-climbing wall at the Midland Community Center. He started a corporate team building and leadership program, and as he facilitated these programs he began to develop a passion for, as he put it, “helping people become better.”
Joshua thrived in his job and was happy with his choice. Six years later, however, many of his friends were returning from college, getting salaried jobs, and doing big things. “It made me realize that while I was having fun doing what I was doing, I was at a dead end,” Joshua said of his reaction to his friends’ accomplishments. He also saw co-workers with college degrees advancing. He realized for the first time that he would not be able to move forward without a college degree: “It took some time, but I finally realized what college really would do for my future.”
Understanding the purpose college could have on his life changed everything.
Joshua returned to Delta in the summer of 2010 and, at the age of 24, took a full load of classes. He still drove 35 minutes there and back. He still sat through hours of classes. But this time, Joshua wasn’t bored. This time, Joshua didn’t fail his classes. This time, Joshua got tests back with the numbers 98, 100, and even 104 on them. The only thing that had changed was his understanding of how college would affect his life.
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