Where do I go from here? This question was on my mind the entire month of March in 2001. I would soon be graudting in high school. Three months later would then be another school year in college. It would be another chapter of a student’s life which everyone in our school expected. But for a student coming from a poor family like me, it’s a blurred vision of which school I would be in and of which course I would take.

I knew I had my dreams. When I was in elementary, I used to recite in front of “what’s you’re ambition?” lesson that “when I grow up I want to be an expert in computer.” And later on, I thought to consider one of the things that I love to do. Since people always told me that I’ve got “green-thumb”, so I thought of taking up Agricultural Engineering. Later on, my dreams changed a bit. Day after day, I listed down courses I wanted to take up. This included Physics, Mathematics, Chemical Engineering, Fine Arts, Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and many others. Of course my first choice was one of the lists.

I also listed names of universities I would love to get into. And of course the community colleges in our town were not in the lists. I would rather not go to college if I would be sent to those schools. How childish of me. Among my classmates, nobody wanted to get stuck in any of the colleges in our town. I handed my lists to my father one Saturday after we had our lunch. I didn’t know what was in my father’s mind but he made no comments. He even not attempted to argue with me about the community college, which I expected him to.

I knew there was a possibility I could not go to college. I knew my father could not afford to send me to college. With our situation those times, it seemed too hopeless to believe that dreams are yet to come true. I considered seeking financial assistance from my maternal grand parents. But pride took over me. My mother had been away since 1993. And since then, I never wanted to get in touch with them.

My faith led me to believe that there should be way – a better way than relying on my relatives.

Part-time job! I thought of having a part-time job in order to finance my schooling. Maybe I could work in a fast-food restaurant just like other working students.