This is my fourth semester at Concordia College. While my college experience is still aways left from completion, I already see that there are ways in which I have grown here at Concordia. Beyond the more general areas of growth that many students experience, such as the broadening of the mind, I have noted a couple particular areas that I have grown in. These are a community of faith, and my skills as a writer.

Before college, I went to a country church that usually has an attendance of around twenty; where everybody knows everyone else. Because of this, the Christian community has always been an important aspect of my faith. However, this community was mostly social as we would meet for church and then have coffee time after. This was when most of the socialization and community interaction happened, and it often involved non-faith topics.

As I moved on to college, I found a great Christian community on campus, Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). I first heard of Cru through a freshman Bible study that I joined. This Bible study was just one of many freshman Bible studies that Cru organized from each dorm. This was a great place of community; I always felt welcomed and found that it was very focused on God. This was different than the almost entirely social community that I had so often associated with faith. While the social aspect was still there, a majority of the time was focused on God. Since my freshman year, I have become a member of Cru and will be going with the Concordia Cru to Miami on a mission trip, something that I had never seen myself doing before.

I have also grown in my skills as a writer at Concordia. Let me say this: before my experience at Concordia, I was an atrocious writer, but thought I was good. Probably my worst area was poetry, although I had learned to enjoy it somewhat in High School. My worst folly was thinking that poetry had to rhyme. I had written several poems that rhymed perfectly, and I often used a cliché every other line in order to make the rhyme fit. This bad habit was just one of several.

However, in college I grew into a stronger form of writing through a few different mediums. From my Inquiry class, I learned how to write an excellent argument through a good structure. Creative Writing Club corrected my bad poetry habits. And my Intro to Creative Writing class taught me to write from my experiences. Since my freshman year I have written a short story that will be published in Afterwork, Concordia's student literary journal, and six poems that are also strongly written.

Overall, my college experience so far has resulted in growth that will change my life from here on out. I continually look forward to the next lessons and opportunities that college has to offer.