My name is Samantha Mairson and I was a student at Tolland High School. I was a four year member of VISION. I was, and still am, very much in love with community service. I graduated in June of 2011, sure that I was well on my way to college. And I was. I was accepted to my dream school.
Two weeks before I was set to arrive on campus at Elon University, I realized that I made a huge mistake.
When I got my financial aid package, I took it to my best friend's mom. Together, we estimated that it would cost me about $65,000 of debt to get my four year degree at Elon, a private liberal arts institution. It was a big number, but one that I could live with - and potentially earn back in a year or two at a well paying job.
I was in California at the end of that summer before college when my online account updated with the Elon Bursar's office. They wanted $10,000 from me up front for my fall semester, the federal loans and grants having already been applied. I was sticker shocked. I had approximately $2,000 saved up in my bank account from working at Kid's Academy Daycare and that was all. (I freaked out.) I let my parents know that I had made a big mistake and I scrambled to come to find a solution.
Neither of my parents attended college - so the territory was unfamiliar to them. Both had worked hard their entire lives, and they continue to do so, but there was not a penny set aside for my college education. I wasn't complaining. I had access to an incredible public education in Tolland, CT (where I spent the entirety of my growing up years, from preschool to high school graduation). But they didn't know what to tell me. Having just graduated, my mom had put our condo on the market and it was recently sold. She was making moves to migrate south, where her immediate family has lived for as long as I can remember.
She called me on the phone. I was contemplating an irresponsible, jump-ship excursion to go backpacking abroad with what money I did have. She said, in essence:
"Samantha, I am very proud of you. Take the money you have in your account and offer it to Elon, defer the rest. When the sale of the condo goes through, you can take the money you need from that. It's a one time thing. I can't do it again. Go for the semester; try ROTC, look for scholarships, figure out what you want to do, and we'll take it from there."
That semester cost me a whopping $18,000 - but dare I say, it was worth every penny. I squeezed the opportunity for everything it was worth. I showed up on campus wearing cat ears. I moved into my dormitory and learned that I would be sharing a room with a seriously incredible lady, one Marley Rose Moreno.
 |
| Marley & me on move-in day. |
 |
| Staley Hall mural. Can you spot me? |
 |
| Morning photo, facing the business school, on Elon Campus in the fall. |
 |
| First Elon friend, Laurier. |
 |
| Best friend Alliebear & I in front of the Elon Library. |
 |
| Hippie festival in Georgia. |
 |
| My participation in college athletics. |
To follow up on the Elon article about me: Laughing! I couldn't believe I found that article again (and did so because I was composing this blurb). Seems like a long time ago. So much has happened in my life since its composition. The writer did a good job with it, but a couple things: 1) My mom was not made out to be the generous heroine that she was, when she helped me finance that first semester. 2. Current college students spending massive amounts of money for your education: you're doing just fine. You've got a lot on your plate. Don't go too crazy with this "make the most of every dollar" theorem. It works well for me, but it was always less about the dollar sign and more about the fleeting opportunity to experience something. Take the opportunities that come your way, but above all else, focus on the things that are important to you. Your education is an investment - no matter how you get it.
I left Elon and as I did so, I made a video (in the university library) addressing my decision and sharing it with family and friends. Then I set off on what would become a fairly epic adventure.
The day that I first toured Elon University, as a junior in high school, is a still-poignant memory for me. My best friend, Samantha McMillen and I decided that we would turn our Thanksgiving break into a road trip. We pitched it to my mom, proposing that we could travel down the coast, stopping at schools, and rest at my grandparents house in NC for the holiday. With some persuasion and lots more planning - we did just that - stopping at University of Pennsylvania then to my grandparents, where my mom could break. Then on a NC mission; exploring Duke University, Wake Forest, and last but not least, Elon University.
When we returned to my grandparents house, before heading north again, Sami and I poured over collected pamphlets and tour treasures. I couldn't stop talking about Elon. Excitement poured from every inch of me. I wanted to go there. I had found that school - the one for me. I talked over every detail with whoever would listen. My grandmother smiled from ear to ear. When talk turned to financing my education, we had to get creative, wrack our brains, multiply figures -
"I've heard of this AmeriCorps program. So-and-so distant relative did it," Grandma said. I asked, "What's it like? What do you do?" and said, "Oh? Community service or something? Hmm, that's interesting, yeah, maybe I could look into that. Military ROTC and independent scholarships are an option too. Lots of time to figure it out, blah, blah, blah."
And that was the first time I heard of AmeriCorps. Who knew that a couple years later I would be making preparations to drop out of Elon University and apply to AmeriCorps NCCC? That because of my pending application to join AmeriCorps, I would be invited to consider my interest in applying to the California Conservation Corps' Backcountry Trails Program. That while traveling across the country, I would be accepted to both of these programs, serving back to back terms. Who knew?
I had a final-hurrah roadtrip with a few of my college friends. I had the opportunity to explore Western NC and I realized I wanted to spend more time there, particularly the Asheville, NC area. It was the beginning of February when I left Elon. My brother picked me up, helped pack me up, met some more of my good college friends, and then I (physically) departed from that era of my life.
I spent two or so weeks with my grandparents in Ayden, NC. They got a car for me to bum around town in, gave me a place to store my things, fed me wisdom and good food. I had a greyhound ticket to leave before I even showed up on their doorstep, but I loved everything about those couple weeks. I went running nearly every day. I drove to the local fast food restaurants for WiFi and got my application for the backcountry program submitted. I ended things with a love interest from back home on Valentine's Day and cried on my way home from a McDonald's WiFi trip. I wrote profusely in my journal. I am curious to read those entries now. And, immersed in the love and lives of my family and excited for the future, happiness was impossible not to feel. Everything else, every sadness or worry, I cleared out of my system with running.
I mention some of those small details because relationships with loved ones are strained when you're constantly on the move. That is worth knowing and preparing for if you ever choose to follow a trail similar to mine. You will go and experience incredible places, but you will more often than not be leaving loved ones in your wake as you journey onward. It always helps me, knowing there are more to be found and met and loved on the trail ahead.
My grandparents and I piled into the Toyota hatchback (the car they got me). My grandmother tried to suggest that maybe I shouldn't get on the Greyhound. With profuse I love yous and thank yous, I did. I wound up in Asheville, NC for a month. I stayed with a retired couple of experienced couchsurfing hosts, people who have hosted individuals from all over the world. I stayed with them for a month and they taught me a great deal. I got a job with a temp agency during my time there and was able to save up a little extra money. Plus, pleasure reading and running time galore!
Towards the end of my stay in Asheville, I received an email announcing that I had been accepted to the AmeriCorps NCCC program and placed on the Denver, CO campus. I was bouncing-around-the-living-
A month may not seem like a particularly significant chunk of time, but I spent it well. I bought plane tickets, bought backcountry gear, traveled to New York City, volunteered at a half marathon in Queens, attended a concert in Times Square with an old friend, lived with my cousin in her Manhattan apartment, kissed a boy, visited 7 friends at college in 3 different states and crashed 8+ of their classes, plus one class that just happened to walk into. I was pulled on stage at one improv comedy show, watched one foreign film, and reunited with Sol Boucher, Corri Swart, Justin Opraseuth, Beverly Naigles, Courtney Savage, Amy Welch, Julia Lachut, Megan Vatteroni, Bryan Fowler, Ryan Gannon, & David Ferris... at their new respective schools, in the second semester of their freshman year of college.
I hosted a reunion party and then boarded a plane for California. San Deigo, San Francisco, then Sacramento. The last Facebook status I made for five months was sent from the computer of a couchsurfing host in Sacramento; it was attached to a picture of me at the San Francisco Earth Day festival, on the back of a hippie "Love Bus".
How do I describe my backcountry experience? It's very simple. I can't accurately do it with this amount of space. Visit the website, insert me into the scenario you read about, and that was my life for five months. It changed me, moved me, shaped me in a way I feel powerless to explain. In time, I will challenge that feeling of powerlessness and publish the journal entries from my time there - perhaps add in pieces of the 100+ handwritten letters from that summer - but suffice to know that it was the "Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions, And More" that the program promises.
 |
| Epic jump at the lake that comes after Thousand Island... Randall (left) goes next. |
 |
| Epic jump in the unnamed territory surrounding our backcountry camp. |
 |
| Yoga warrior pose in the Alabama Hills. |
 |
| The Yos Dos (Yosemite II) crew at debriefing with our Yosemite sponsors. From left to right: Yen, Jon, Matt, Ashton, Doug, Charlie, Mimi, Randall, Ty, Dave, Antoinette, Myself, Mike, and Russ. |
 |
| Antoinette, Myself, & Mimi (from left to right) in front of Ireland Lake, Yosemite Nat'l Park. |
My family surprised me at my backcountry graduation / debriefing ceremony. My aunt and uncle had flown my mom out to California to see me for her birthday. I balled like a baby when I saw them, standing there, at the back of the seated crowd. There I was - Samantha Mairson, head still half-shaved from a spontaneous decision at orientation, balling like a baby, caked in deeply embedded backcountry dirt, clinging to her crewmates - as we waited for our turn to get on stage and share a bit of our season.
Coming back to "society" - that was hard. I did not miss the phones, computers, TVs. I did not miss the light and the noise and the fast-paced distraction. I did not miss the germs.
 |
| Mom, Myself, Aunt Kelley, & Uncle Jay at the Mt. Whitney Portal for a picnic. |
I fell in love with Seattle and the people and the new life my old Tolland friends were creating there.
 |
| Allyce and I go kayaking. We catch up on life. |
 |
| Portrait of an AmeriGirl. |
 |
| Working in the art room at the Boys and Girls Club. |
 |
| Working in the library at the Denver Green School, on ISP (Independent Service Project). |
 |
| Day of Induction with my official crew: Fire 4! From left to right: Kelly, Steve, Alicia, Me, Robin, Josh, Paige, Davion, Brandon, & Team Leader Fei. |
 |
| Working on fire restoration project in Colorado. |
I am in Farmington, New Mexico. I am working at a Boys and Girls Club. I am paid, a very modest stipend and a scholarship and living expenses, to serve in communities across the Southwest region of the United States. I am paid to help people and to become a leader. I love my job. I love the people that I work with and the opportunities that find me. I love existing in a community of people that want to work hard and make a difference.
There are so many options for your future. Never give up hope that things will work out just as they ought to. Learn from everything.
Good luck and all best with your adventure.
- Samantha Mairson
PS. Plans to address what I think is a broken tertiary education system in this country. Look out for future blog posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment