Like a lot of people who grew up in Ohio I grew up in a very small town. That typical Ohio town surrounded by corn, where everyone knew everyone.

It's one of those towns where you most want to stay their whole lives. It's one of those towns where you become so close to the people around you, you feel comfortable with them so you keep them around even after high school. It's one of those towns where everyone comes back because no one really leaves.

Except me.

College has changed me in so many ways and I am beyond proud of those changes. Growing up in a small town can make you close off to so many things in life. In high school I was a completely different person and this is how college changed me.

College taught me to be more accepting. When you grow up in a small town you're so limited by the people you interact with, your small town is like a bubble, it's its own little world, only few can come in and even fewer can escape.

College taught me to be more independent. I've learned to grow and be my own person since I left that small town and went to college. I can do anything and everything on my own, I am no longer relying on the people I once thought where so important to me.

College taught me to be more appreciative. The underrated thing about small towns is the community. Although everyone knows your business it's because everyone knows and everyone cares. Small towns are one big community. When you move away from that and into a college where you meet a new person every day, it really changes a person. I now appreciate my parents and my family so much more. I appreciate the friendships and memories I made not only here in college but also in high school before I moved away.

College taught me to fly. I have grown in every aspect since I left for college. College taught me to not limit myself, to reach for every opportunity that comes my way. College taught me to take that leap of faith and know that I am capable of so much.

College changed me in more ways than one. But I would like to think that it didn't really change me, it just helped me become who I was always meant to be.

College changed me the moment I arrived and I never looked back.