It's strange, being a first generation college student. I feel like I've already had so many little things that made me stand out - I'm a female, I'm a minority, I come from a low income family, I was raised by a single mother, and that mother did not obtain a degree from college. If anything, this means I have more to prove. There is no bar for me to meet - I'm the one that gets to set it....

RIT is a thousand miles away from home, and much more expensive than the schools from Missouri I got accepted into. I chose RIT despite that because it felt right. It was...