As the beginning of the fall semester nears, I find myself as well as some of my friends actually looking forward to the start of school.

No, we didn’t lose our sanity during the summer break, but rather find ourselves surrounded in boredom.

For me, it’s more or less the need for a routine.

During the school term, I wake up and I know what I have to do and when it must be done. During the summer, waking up and having absolutely no idea what I will do with the day plagues me.

It used to be that I enjoyed that freedom of having no particular schedule to go by, but now, however, I find myself almost needing that schedule to keep me feeling normal.

School for me has more or less been a blessing.

I was your typical guy that truly disliked high school to the point where I didn’t even take it seriously anymore.

I wanted nothing more than to get done with high school so I could explore what life was really about outside of a classroom.

I chose to leave high school early, get my GED and move on with my life.

At first I enjoyed it, minus the fact that I didn’t get to see all of my friends as often as I would have liked to. The world was at my fingers to work or walk or explore or do whatever a classroom was preventing me from doing.

All I wanted to do was explore the world; see it for what it was that isn’t taught at school.

After doing that for a few years I realized after seeing the world from a different view, I now wanted to be a part of that world and help shape that world rather than be a speck on a map.

I realized that I needed to go back to school.

Some people get caught up in their minimum wage jobs thinking that eventually they will move on until-next thing they know, they are 40 and have no intentions of going back to school.

They become comfortable.

Me, I couldn’t do that.

I signed up for Lake Land and during the first week kept wondering, “Will I make it another week?”

I wasn’t sure if I was ready to be back in the classroom but after a short amount of time I realized that I was in it for the long haul. Lake Land gave me the opportunity to work hands on with my goals.

At Lake Land, I wasn’t treated like part of a class, but rather an individual with the opportunity to take my goals as far as I wanted to.

The harder I wanted to work, the more opportunities I was given to work hard. I thought I would be comfortable with my Associates Degree, but quickly realized I was ready to go all the way.

So, now I’m taking advantage of the same opportunities Lake Land gave me at EIU and I feel the need to take this chance to say to others, you can too.

If you’re ready to make a change, sign up for school now. It is an easy process and will truly make a difference in your life.

Julian Russell is a junior communication studies major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENopinions@gmail.com.