By Maybelline Somoza | Opinion
There are two funny stories my mom likes to tell. One involves the countless times she’d have to quite literally drag me outside the car with one shoe on and the other off so I could go to school, and the other is about my immense fear of taking exams. Growing up I was frightened by school, but I always knew one thing, and that was that if I ever decided to go to college, Tallahassee Community College would be my one and only option.
Fast-forward to my junior/senior year of high school, I was presented with the decision of where I wanted to go for college. There were places like Jacksonville University, University of South Alabama, and University of Tampa that showed a great interest in having me enroll for the fall semester, but I did not even apply. I just knew I wanted to go to TCC.
When I was in 5th grade and about to graduate from Gretna Elementary School, I was awarded a scholarship by a program called TCC Take Stock in Children that would pay for two years of my college tuition once I enrolled in college. The program involved Saturday Academies once a Saturday of the month in the main TCC Campus.
I started going to the Saturday Academies when I was in sixth grade and I loved it. I loved going to “college” once a month. One of my classes was in room 108 in the CT Building on campus. I don’t know if many people believe in destiny, but I think it was fate that caused me to enroll in a history class this semester that so coincidentally happened to be in that same room from six years ago.
I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent in TCC over the course of the years, both as the little kid who aspired to attend there and the soon-to-be adult enrolled at TCC. But while my decision to attend TCC came from a childhood dream, I’ve always wondered why everyone else chose this college, and so I asked.
Amanda Hinton and Kevon Smith are two awesome friends I made during these past two semesters at TCC. They both had some quite interesting reasons why they picked TCC.
Hinton is a Tallahassee native and dual-enrollment student here at TCC. She is in her senior year at Community Leadership Academy and after her high school graduation she plans on taking a gap year to go on mission trips overseas. She will be going to Belize during the fall and Africa during Spring 2022.
“I chose TCC because they offer a great dual enrollment program,” said Hinton. “There’s a great atmosphere around campus. I also love the small class sizes that really allow for better attention and help from the professors.”
Smith is originally from Jacksonville, Fla., but decided to come to TCC after a conversation with his brother about which college option would be better for him. He is a freshman and upon graduation hopes to transfer to another university to study journalism.
“I spoke to my brother about possible plans, because I didn’t know what to do,” said Smith. “He told me community college was a way to go. That’s how I found out about TCC. So I applied to TCC, took the virtual tour, and I am now a TCC Eagle.”
