The Stair of Maturity

A little girl sat at the foot of a stairway, her face against the plastic bars of a child-proof gate. Her eyes followed the sound of children laughing on the second floor.  She looked with pleading eyes at her big sister who was standing beside her. Her sister removed the child proof gate with a smile and helped her up the stairs.

I don’t recall that day so many years ago when I, the little girl, sat at the foot of those stairs and looked up with longing at my older siblings. But the story has been told to me many times by my sister Candice. She was the one who helped me up those stairs. I always wanted to go where my older siblings went, and do the things they did. But it was inevitable that I would sometimes be left behind in life. There wouldn’t always be people around to help me get where I wanted to go. Time and time again I had to make a choice either:  cry at the bottom of the steps, or begin the climb alone.

In the Spring of 2006, my eldest sister Candice started attending College of the Ozarks along with my older brother Levi. When she left, I had to do a lot more things on my own. For instance, I starting helping more with chores around the house. And my little brother now needed my help with his school work.   Still, I had my parents and my older sister Bonnie to rely on. I was twelve years old at the time, I had a lot more (really rather insignificant) things on my mind then college. College seemed to be a thousand steps on the stair away, so I didn’t start planning ahead.

Then in the fall of 2007, my sister Bonnie Jean began attending College of the Ozarks. When she left, I found myself being pushed a step upward on the stair of maturity. I had to start taking on more responsibilities now that she was out of the house. All the household chores were mostly up to me and my mom. That included cleaning, cooking, laundry, babysitting my little brother etc. During this time my family moved to another town, and I had to do a lot of the packing. My family was trying to open a coffee business. A lot was happening. I didn’t like it. In my mind, my older siblings were off having “fun” while I was still stuck at home working. I wanted to join in on the fun, but I felt restrained by my age. I felt so grown up, but I was really still a little girl. Though I said to myself I wanted to go to college like my siblings, I wasn’t accepting the work that it would take to get me there. I was homeschooled, and my Mom was doing all she could with our busy schedule to get me educated. But I wasn’t motivated to excel academically. Most of my free time was just spent doing fun activities or, at times, feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t have enough free time. I wanted growing up to be just as easy as looking with pleading eyes at my sister. But God wasn’t so easy on me. Through the advice and support of my parents, God showed me I needed to be self-motivated about college. My Mom told me again and again, “Grace, if you want to go to college at seventeen, you are going to have to really try harder.”  When I finally grasped that simple concept, I knocked down the child gate of my own laziness, and took a step. I applied myself to my studies, keeping my mind on that last step on the staircase: college. I took out my sister’s old A.C.T practice book and studied it. Then when I had finished the book, I looked on the internet for more information on the A.C.T.  Going to College of the Ozarks was my dream, and I was doing all I could to make that dream come true.

There were many reasons why I wanted so badly to come to College of the Ozarks. For one, I was raised in a low income family. I knew that if I didn’t want to accumulate debt, College of the Ozarks was my only option.  But money was not the only reason. Primarily, I wanted to come to C of O because I loved everything about it. C of O became a sort of home away from home for me, while my siblings were attending. I would hang out on campus with my siblings. I would come to events for the locals such as the Honor America Celebration and the Tree Lighting. C of O felt like home, and the faculty and students felt like family, but until I became a student I couldn’t claim it as my own.

On December 11^th, 2010 I entered the Youngman Agriculture Center to take my A.C.T. Ironically I had to literally climb a set of stairs to take the test which was on the second floor. I was reaching the end of my stair of maturity. At the top of the stair, I could only hope was a successful A.C.T score and admittance to College of the Ozarks. It had been a long and difficult climb.  “God,” I prayed, “Help me do this.” A few hours later, I descended the stairs of the Youngman Agriculture Center. I was unsure of my future, but I found comfort knowing this step was in God’s hands. Twelve days of uncertainty later, I received my A.C.T scores in the mail. I scored a 24, which was higher than I had hoped for. With many prayers, I sent in my college application.

On February 16^th 2011, I logged onto campus web and saw that I had been accepted to College of the Ozarks. I was so happy. I could hardly believe it. I still find it hard to believe that I am a student at College of the Ozarks. I look back behind me at the stairs, and I see the rough steps I had to climb to get here. I know I could not have done it without the loving support of my parents, and without God. But most importantly, I could not have made it this far if I had not really tried.  Though, I have reached the end of this staircase, I know this is not the end of my journey. There are many more floors to this life, and I have a lot of staircases to climb. Already I see the next staircase standing tall before me, at the top I hope awaits my college diploma. As I begin this journey, I know what to expect from Hard Work U. It will be the center of many good memories. It will be the source of much learning. It will be the place that I invest a lot of time and hard work into.  But I am not afraid of hard work, because growing up I learned this simple yet crucial Law of Life: If you want to go anywhere worthwhile in life you have to work hard to get there. And in my opinion, graduating from college debt free is certainly worthwhile.