Once at Highline, I found a world far different than the one I was used to: I had proved myself to be a good worker, but I was rusty on the process of learning. My confidence was low, and I felt my good grades were a fluke. But with the encouragement from a friend, I enrolled in Honors 100 beginning my path to becoming an Honors Scholar. With the help of Dr. Barbara Clinton, the program's director, I became familiar with the world of higher education and learned that the reality of myself conquering material and challenging myself at every angle was not only a good idea, but an incredibly rewarding idea was well.

My low self-confidence continued to break down as I did extra Honors Option papers and projects for challenging classes, became president of HCC's Environmental Club, moved from a writing consultant to Lead Writing Consultant at the Writing Center, and looked for leadership opportunities for myself and for my son--also a participant of the Honors Scholar Program. The more I communicated with the faculty due to leadership roles and Honors Option assignments, the more opportunities I saw all around me. My initial goal of sitting in the front of each class and not talking to anyone disappeared and morphed into strong public and interpersonal communication skills, confidence in fresh challenges, and strong self-confidence in my applications to four-year colleges. It also helped give me the strength to feel confident in switching my undergraduate focus from anthropology to environmental studies with the merging of studies in graduate work in environmental anthropology.

Becoming familiar with the world of higher education also rewarded me financially. I continue to earn new scholarships and academic recognition including being awarded the All-Washington Academic medal from Gov. Christine Gregoire; University of Washington-Tacoma's $6,500 Leindecker Scholarship; University of Washington's $4,000 All-Washington Academic Team Member Scholarship; The Des Moines Rotary Scholarship of $2,500; and Outstanding Performance and Contribution Awards for Environmental Science and Environmental Club.

As I move onto the Global Honors and Environmental Studies programs in fall of 2007 at the University of Washington, Tacoma, I know that becoming an HCC Honors Scholar means far more to me than an academic accomplishment. It means an accomplishment in self-esteem, confidence, leadership, and a positive outlook on the many challenges which lay ahead.