Finding my path in life

First off I want to say a huge thankyou to all the faculty and staff that have got me to the point I am at today. I also want to say congratulations to everyone who is here with me today. We made it.

 When I was younger I had my heart set on being in law enforcement. That was all I wanted to achieve. I thought that I knew everything about it and needed no help or guidance towards that goal. I was wrong. I was just a little over 13 when I got a knock on the door so I opened it and it was someone who wanted to talk to me about a summer camp all about being a cop  and immediately I was thinking that I didn’t need it. I never even heard the guy out or listened to what he was saying because in my head I knew everything and the camp  “wasn’t for me”. I do believe that if I would’ve gone to that camp I would have found out that being a cop was not what I wanted to do. I may have missed that opportunity but I didn’t miss the next one.

 I went to a course for a day that taught you the basics of being a cop and that’s when I started to fall out of love with it and didn’t have the biggest desire anymore but I still clung onto it. I truly just don’t think I was ready to let the idea go because I felt like I would have to get invested in something else and almost start all over, but that wasn’t the case. As many people know I have a sister who is autistic and I was so good at defending her and helping her with anything she needed, I could have sworn that I would be good at defending and helping anyone, which is why I stuck to being a cop.

 One day someone pulled into my driveway and I went out to see who it was and it was a caseworker. A caseworker works for the government and is an advocate for a kid who needs it. I was so intrigued by what she was doing and how in just one day she could make so many kids happy and give them opportunities that they might not have had if she wasn’t there. When I thought about it I compared a cop to a social worker and they are different but in many ways the same. They help people all day everyday, make sure they are happy and healthy, and never want anyone to be in harm’s way. In that moment, on that day, when I met her, my passion changed.

I knew the minute that I got interested in social work that this would be a forever passion. I have always loved helping people and I think that this is an amazing job to achieve that because everyday I can go out and do what I love. Another thing that came with this passion was that I decided when I grew up and was stable I wanted to do more than the job entailed. Once I get on my feet I would love to start a nonprofit for foster kids. A safe place where they can come and stay and feel love until they find a forever family and if they don’t I would want to make sure I gave them enough resources to achieve being on their own. I think that achieving all that I want to would have an amazing impact in my life and I could go to bed at night knowing that I might not be changing the world, but I am changing these young kids lives and that is all I ever really want to do. Most people save one person’s life and feel like there’s is complete but I want to change many and until I change the most lives I can my life won’t be. 

Now I have applied to colleges and my major is social work and will also be getting a degree in business so I can run the non profit and couldn’t be more happy with that as my forever job.  I wished that I had taken every chance that I was given and every opportunity handed my way because maybe I could have found my passion a lot sooner. I hope that no one makes the mistakes that I made. 

Seize the moment, take the opportunities that are headed your way because even if that isn’t the path you want to take it could lead you to the right one. I want everyone in this room to know that what they are doing is their passion and what they want for themselves in the future. So take chances even if they don’t work out, take another one because it can lead to amazing things. Everyone struggles, don’t let it hold you back.

 Again, congrats to everyone who made it to this point and I hope you all fulfill your dreams to the fullest.

Photo on Foter.com