As my professor reads the winners of Arapahoe Community College’s Third Annual Literary Contest from the podium, I remember an icy February night two months ago. Stuck in rush hour traffic during a snow storm, I was determined to turn in my nonfiction essay before the literary contest deadline ended. Although the school parking lot was mainly deserted when I ...

“Sing in me, muse, and through me tell the story of the graduating high school senior about to embark upon her college odyssey.” –My modified version of Homer’s The Odyssey. Homer made his epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, unique by focusing on different characters and plots in each poem. But they’re cohesive because The Iliad lays the foundation for ...

It’s hot. Even though I’m a writer and I believe a good writer should be able to describe anything, there doesn’t seem to be an accurate way to record the feelings of a t-shirt sticking to the small of your back, slimy lines of sweat sliding down your neck, the grit of dirty feet from wearing sandals. It’s just hot ...

When you're in college and dating the same person you did in high school, you have two options: break up or stay together. Of course, staying together may call for committing to a long-distance relationship (LDR) which can be difficult. How do you go from seeing each other almost every day to seeing each other only once every two months? ...

Every day I realize that I'm a senior. I know that probably sounds like a weird thing to say, but every day I have this enlightened moment where I say to myself "Whoa. This is my last year of high school. This is my last year of mandated public education." When I wasn't a senior, I heard seniors talk about missing ...

My first day of college, just over 20 years ago, was filled with the anticipation and excitement of every other college freshman. I was on my own and preparing for success in my double majors of education and business. Months of preparation and planning culminated in the moment I sat in my first college class, Business 101. Perhaps it was the ...

Four years is a long time. It hasn't seemed like it to me, but by June I will have been doing this high school bit for four years now. That thought has led me to ponder what these years have meant and will mean in the future ... of course I've learned a lot about endoplasmic reticuli and asymptotes and syllogisms ...

Clutching a white rose and an unlit white candle in my hand, I followed a procession of 35 inductees into the small auditorium. The audience stood up as we entered the room and I could see my husband, in-laws and five children craning their necks to find me in line. A violinist played classical music on the podium until we took ...

In high school, I went to tennis camp for three years. I figured I'd come out with a sweet backhand but ended up coming out with better sportsmanship, while my form stayed the same. In other words, I expected one thing and ended up with something else. Here are a few unexpected things I got out of each of my important ...

Ever look at successful people and wonder how they got there? Next Step asked five celebs their advice on how to have a successful college experience. Here’s what they want you to know. "I went to Indiana University at Bloomington. I wasn’t the first one in my family to go there—actually, my parents met there! Grades are so important, but if ...

Life at a huge school is quite different than what I thought it would be. I went to an extremely small high school (approximately 800 students) and it got to be too small after four years. When I looked at colleges, I knew I wanted to go to a HUGE school. I pictured lots of school spirit, amazing football games, lecture ...

It seems like the sophomore year is one that you don’t remember. It’s not like your freshman year when everything is new and exciting. It’s not like your junior year when you start the college search process. It’s not like your senior year that is fast-paced, application-crazed, and meaningful yet fun. It’s the often-overlooked sophomore year that isn’t given nearly enough ...

You’d think we would have been over it by the time we got there. My university orientation class was already so intellectually, academically, athletically and artistically accomplished. We had friends we were close to, families we cared about. Put together, we’d performed thousands and thousands of hours of service to church and community. This, you would think, was an emotionally and ...

The back-to-school jitters kicked in just as I climbed into the elevator. Trying to appear calm and self-assured, I surveyed the swarm of younger faces around me. I made my way to the fourth floor classroom for my first “publishing your writing” class. Arriving early, I tentatively chose a seat and waited for my professor and classmates to trickle in. Fully ...

The cherry blossoms are starting to fade and fall to the ground, reminding me that spring semester is nearly over. Summer break looms like a child’s birthday balloon buoyantly hovering above a crowded room. From this vantage point, the next 12 weeks seem like plenty of time to tackle those neglected home decorating projects, catch up on nearly 20 years of ...

I’m old enough to be these kids’ mother, I think to myself as I observe my younger classmates lining both sides of the hallway. While we wait for the professor to arrive and unlock the door to our classroom, I wonder about these young people only a few years older than my teenage son. What are their personal backgrounds? What has ...

We asked Fastweb users to share their advice on college life, based on their personal experiences. Here's what they said: "Try not to hold on to what is familiar to you. You have a chance to be anything you want. Let the world around you influence you and teach you. College prepares you for the future, but everything else helps you ...

On my first day of school, I feel a tingling in my fingers as I search through my closet for my black dress. I usually wear this gloomy-colored attire to funerals, but this dress will not witness any melancholy tears or expressions of farewell today. Bolles, my high school, carries an abiding tradition of letting the senior women wear black dresses ...

If an omniscient viewer peeked into my life for a period of time, he or she would notice that I follow a simple and set routine. I wake up, brush my teeth, pick out my day’s attire, and go to school. After school, I toss my dirty clothes into the laundry basket, take a shower, and slip into a more comfortable ...

So this is the end of one journey. It feels like everything in my life has closed its doors lately. The weird thing is usually one door closes and another one opens, but I haven't seen any doors open. And some of those doors have just slammed in my face ... without any warning, if you catch my drift. One particular ...