Your future follows no road map
by Courtney Ortega, editorial assistant
When contemplating my college plans last fall as a senior in
high school, I’ll be the first to admit that I never once
imagined myself to be where I am now.
I had been accepted into Texas Christian University, and
South Plains College was the farthest thing from my mind.
Yet as life is always unpredictable, my parents thought it
would be best that I start out at SPC, to attain my basics.
I cannot lie; I was more than crushed, rather I was
devastated. I cried the whole night, and sunk into a
short-lived and ridiculous depression. I couldn’t imagine my
life going differently than what I had planned out for it,
let alone go to SPC.
Yet looking back on how I got here, I realize now how much I
might have missed out on if I hadn’t come to SPC. The
Plainsman Press has become much more than newspaper staff to
me, but more like a family. Charlie, or Mr. Ehrenfeld as
some may know him, has been not only a great advisor to me,
but an awesome mentor in my pursuit of a career in
journalism.
My classes and teachers here been nothing but wonderful, and
I can honestly say I don’t dread attending them on the days
that I have class. I’ve met so many new friends and awesome
people here that the thought of missing out on them seems
out of the question. The detour in my unplanned path has
brought me much more success than I ever imagined.
But it was not until a recent day in my News Writing class
that guest speaker Cathy Jung, an accredited television
script writer, put it all into to perspective for me. She
said anybody, from anywhere, can accomplish anything, but
you have to be willing to take whatever path that leads you
there.
So that’s what I’m doing these days, taking the road I must
travel, regardless of the detours or potholes, to become the
successful journalist that I strive to be. I’ve learned that
life gets sidetracked occasionally, but it doesn’t mean that
the world has come to end.
It only means that you must keep going down the unplanned
path. Because looking back, you’ll never really know what
you might have missed out on.
