With the culmination of the graduation ceremony, I could now remove that goal from my list of things I wanted to do to prove the naysayers and nonbelievers wrong. The desire to prove people wrong was serving as my motivation. It was allowing me to use my competitiveness to continuously push myself.
The next thing on my list was to attend college. Still not quite independent yet, it was best that I attended a local university. With that, I chose the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). The thought of attending college was exhilarating as I was expecting to not only be challenged academically but also socially. It was like being a student that attended the same school for K-8 grades where they knew everyone. However, after matriculating into high school they became one of the youngest students and doesn't know anyone. I was on a foreign campus without any friends, but once again, I would embrace the challenge. I knew that this experience was a part of proving myself, earning a college degree, and immersing myself back into the real world that wouldn’t cater to me because of my disability.
Despite only attending for two years, before transferring to Towson University, my time a UMBC was extremely beneficial. It forced me to be independent. I met new people there, which showed me that people wo