Kiery Actually Does College

I started taking college prep courses in January, which I’ve written about most of the few times that I’ve actually gotten around to writing this year. The week before last week I took the college placement test in english and got a near perfect score (98 & 99, out of 99) and placed into english 101. Which is huge on multiple levels, and bigger still I’ve actually registered for the class and am starting in April. I plan to continue taking my college prep course in math and hopefully over the summer be able to take the placement test for that as well and start doing full college courses with the hope of getting an AA or AS and maybe even transfer to UW.
I still can’t quite believe that I’m doing it? I didn’t think I would be able to? I almost believed everything my parents told me about how my uterus meant that higher education wasn’t an option for me, and if it weren’t for the encouragement of my friends and that math was blocking my ability to code, I probably wouldn’t have actually tried. Turns out, I love school and going somewhere to learn things, and my particular school has to many things going on for queer students and there’s a huge art thing and….it’s overwhelming and great at the same time.
I have a really hard time expressing how massive it is to be able to do school – to start doing school – at 25 and all of the blocks I’ve had to get over to get to the point that I could even try, and then to actually be doing well there….My ABE teacher and my advisor both think I’ll do great and I’m on the right track and they actually believe in me? I’ve never had teacher types believe in me before. It’s healing on a lot of levels and I’m really happy that I’m at a place where I can do this now. My dream of wanting to go to college as a teenager is finally being realized and it’s magical.
I’m working on getting scholarships and funding together now, so I don’t have to pay everything out of pocket. To that end I’ve submitted an essay to the Wyzant scholarship and it would be amazing if you could take a moment to vote and share (vote daily!), that will go a long way towards helping with my funding for at least the fall semester. In the mean time, I’m also trying to put together resources for this quarter, even though I’m only taking one class, I still need books and a replacement laptop once the new iteration is out because my laptop suddenly acquired a motherboard problem and won’t turn on.
So, I’m asking for help – I need your shares and your votes desperately for the scholarship for the fall, and in the meantime, if you have the means or desire and feel like donating to help cover the cost of books/coffee/school supplies and a replacement laptop…you can click the giant purple button and I will love you forever.