“Why?”
“Come on, Amber, don’t go there.”
“But I thought you were smart?”
“You don’t even drink…”
These are all reactions I got from peers, teachers, and adults alike when I revealed my decision to go to Ole Miss. As a 4.0, honor roll, AP student nobody could figure out why I would pick Ole Miss to attend to further my education, where they figured not much education furthering was going to happen.
However, when I said I was going to the University of Mississippi, a top ten ranked university for Hospitality Management, one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, and ranked SEC sports team, I got a little bit of a different reaction.
Somewhere along the line people received only one story of Ole Miss: drugs, alcohol, Greek life gone wild, and other various extra curricular activities. What people seem to have forgotten, or just chooses to omit, is every university from Harvard to Kennesaw State University to BYU to Liberty University has said extra curriculars that students can, or cannot, participate in. They don’t see my 15 hour schedule, my 100% class attendance, or the six hours I spent studying last night to get a 92 on my math test (I got a 92 on my math test!!!!!!!!!!!) at the University of Mississippi. Therefore I say Hotty Toddy with pride and challenge everyone’s one story with my Ole Miss Story.