Before I was accepted into college I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I was going to earn my law degree, practice criminal and corporate law in the comforts of my own firm and everyone is to sign in with Cynthia at the front desk. I began my journey in the classrooms at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Its marketing slogan is “First for Women.” I was sold with the small-sized campus and its historical atmosphere. However, my days as a Pirate were numbered. I completed one semester before transferring to the University of West Georgia.
I never changed my major because I knew exactly what I was going to do. All of my friends always talked about the challenges of their major while I was the bookworm writing dissertations for a 10-page term paper. I was fine with the limits that I pushed. Though it meant forfeiting the late night failures, the early morning successes gave me greater satisfaction. I came into UWG with a not-so-hot GPA and was not feeling the college vibe. It wasn’t until I was immersed into the Political Science department that made me change my attitude.
Entrance into Dr. Gregory Dixon’s international politics courses changed my entire focus for what I really wanted to do. My Juris Doctor was now a blur and I have embarked on a new journey; I will be getting my MA in International Affairs. I was intrigued with Dr. Dixon’s discipline and his expertise on the subject. There are only about two things that make up the college struggle… having Ramen Noodles for dinner and writing papers. For me, writing papers were exciting. I was never one to get it all out in 10-15 pages. I was the overachiever in the classroom. I always exceeded the page limit and my classmates teased me about “doing too much.” I still made nothing less than A’s on my papers so I was satisfied with writing 25 single spaced pages on gun policies or a 33 –page essay on the lifestyle of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I got even more of a thrill from my undergraduate career when I was chosen as an intern for the Georgia General Assembly at the State Capitol. I had never been there before and to have been there as a temporary state employee was exciting to me! I went to work early everyday just to walk around and see everything in there. For the first few weeks of my internship, I got lost on purpose just to find myself exactly where I started. The Capitol gave me such a thrill. When students from the Political Science Club came to visit me, it made me so happy to share a piece of my experience with them. It also gave them something to look forward to. A major keystone in my undergraduate career was to stay curious and the goal is to always be great.
Janée Morris is a political science major.
