What are you doing? (part 1)

I graduated from high school in the Spring of 2013. Because of previously earned credits, I finished my Associate of Arts in Business Administration in the Spring of 2014. At the time, I was 19 years old and completely debt free with two years of college credit to my name. I was also working part-time as a nanny and loved my job. Chipping away on my college degree while working in the afternoons was my Monday through Friday. Church and social life defined the weekends. It was fun. I was being "productive". I was staying out of debt. But, I felt like I was just... doing.

So, I applied for and was accepted into Praxis, not knowing what to expect.

Now, I was skeptical about the program at first. Even though I had met the founder and CEO several years before and knew that he and others on the team were smart, innovative, and well connected, I had my reservations. For many years I had been told that a college degree was the only way to be successful in the business world. As a business major, I believed that I needed that degree to even get a job.

But, many different voices had been speaking to me about college and the value of a degree. Blog posts and articles filled with personal stories and statistics seemed to flood my feed on Facebook. People young and old I talked to were often bringing up regret about their college years being a waste and their student loans a burden. From my year as a full time college student, I realized that many of my fellow students were "just there" and were not really learning much or taking advantage of the class material or the professors.

Finally, I took the plunge. I decided to take a rest from that "must needed" college degree I was working on and instead joined the Fall 2014 Praxis class. And five weeks into it, I'm so glad I did.

We just finished up our first module of the online material (read my thoughts about that module here). I'm also starting to learn the ropes of my business partner (I'll write more about that in part 2). The other seven Fall 2014 participants and I have had some great clash and collaboration in our weekly discussion groups. I'm constantly being challenged to create value and grow as a person. It's completely unlike the atmosphere at my college. Instead of a "get this stuff done" attitude, it is more of a "create something and learn from your experience" mindset. And I love it.

I plan to write more as I get further into the program. You can read about my experience at the opening seminar here and stay tuned for my post about my business partner.

I'm honored to be part of this program so early in its conception. I want to break the mold.