THE YAGER FORUM M.C.

Maiwen Claunch

“I remember being in elementary school counting the years that I had left in school and realizing I had eight left. I thought that was crazy; doing this same structure eight more times sounded impossible. The schedule of having nine months of school five days a week, seven hours a day is very tiring. I’ve been wanting to escape that schedule and be able to modify to what feels better for me. It was my sophomore year that I decided to see how many credits I needed to finish high school and I realized that it was something that I could achieve in a year. When I realized that I wanted to graduate early it gave me such a purpose because I realized these things are things that I had to get done to achieve that goal. I learned why I care about my education, and the past few years, I realized that I wanted to start taking classes at the college level so I could study things that actually felt worthwhile to me. It’s so enjoyable to learn about things that you’re passionate about and excite you. Thinking about the college classes I’m taking makes me realize how much freedom comes with that. I love that feeling of studying and taking classes because I want to and because it benefits me.”