It represents being the first, but certainly not the last, of my generation in my family to go to college. It stands for a breaking away from the expected finality of a high-school education, of a longing for more than is offered.
It represents a transcendence of class, of seeing beyond the boundaries of socioeconomics and daring to believe that achievement is possible. It stands for the overcoming of stereotypes and the refusal to be denied.
It represents years of dedication and hard work. It stands for countless hours of study after putting my kids down for the night, and then working until dawn in order to finish papers and projects. It stands for cleaning the homes of other people to make ends meet, and for all of my sisters and parents pitching in at one time or another to babysit as I took night classes.
It represents a surpassing of expectations for a once-teenaged mother. For myself and for all those young girls like me, who nobody ever thinks will amount to anything. For those girls who are balancing on the tightrope between adolecence and adulthood, and who walk that line with only a dream and a prayer.
Education is a treasure in and of itself, but an education that changes a life is the greatest treasure of all.
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