College gives people chance to explore

By Yonina Robinson
Skiff Staff

In May 1997, I graduated from John L. LeFlore Magnet High School in Mobile, Ala. I applied to TCU in June 1997. I was accepted to TCU in July, and I arrived in August. I had never seen TCU when I left home for this “TCU experience.”

Four years have now come and gone, and it still hasn’t hit me that I graduate in less than two weeks. As of this day, the only thing I’m certain of is that I’m going home to Mobile for a week the Monday after graduation. But I leave here with the same inexplicable peace of God that I had when I came my freshman year.

I’m not scared or apprehensive about preparing to enter “the real world.” God has been preparing me for this moment.
But I’m remembering a conversation about life after college I had last week with a guy who has been out of college for about two years. Everyone told us in high school that “a college degree is the key that opens the door to a world of opportunities.” The reality is that your degree only gives you the right to ask for the key.

I know a lot of people with college degrees who have yet to find the correct door behind which all these supposed opportunities lie. I say all this because a college degree doesn’t mean you can stand out on Interstate 30 and say “Here I am world!” It doesn’t mean hundreds of employers will run to you like you’re the hottest thing on the New York Stock Exchange.

College affords you with the chance to learn the skills you’ll need to do whatever it is you want to do. You still have to prove you’ve got it. And just because you’ve graduated doesn’t mean you have it. A lot of people graduate but you still have to show you’re better than a lot of people to get whatever you’re seeking. I know that sounds competitive, but that’s reality.

I am eternally grateful to God for leading me to TCU and allowing me to have this experience.

A lot goes on here that would prepare any student for just about anything he or she might be once the person leaves 2800 S. University Drive. But this isn’t a recruiting push because if I had my way, I’d be at Howard University in Washington, D.C. or Hampton University in Virginia. But I am not my own. I belong to Christ.

And from here, in two weeks, I will be an alumna. The question is if I had to do it over, would I? Maybe others wouldn’t. Even though at times my soul longed to be at a black college, when I had the chance to go, I didn’t. So I guess I would do it again.

I had to leave my comfort zone and go to the mark of my calling. Right now, I encourage each of you to reach towards your calling. Leave behind what makes sense and what’s easy and what you’re used to doing.

To the members of the Word of Truth Gospel Choir and IMPACT and my sorors of the Iota Eta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., it is my prayer that you don’t get discouraged. The race is still given to the one who endures until the end. Your faith in knowing God will get you to the end is what will get you there in due time.

To my other people of color here, please remember we are part of a legacy. Like Dr. Maya Angelou said, “we are the dreams of slaves.” Everyone here might not support the dream but never let them take it away. This city is full of nay-sayers, but don’t live for the people of the city nor the life it may bring.

To everyone else, may the only true and living God, whose grace and mercy is able to escort you down the streets of gold, keep you from everlasting to everlasting. Sincerely.

Yonina Robinson is a graduating senior broadcast journalism major from Mobile, Ala.
She can be reached at (y.l.robinson@student.tcu.edu).

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