When I first transferred to Charleston, like many students before me, I wanted to be a teacher – high school history to be exact.

For two semesters I trudged to Coleman Hall every morning for class, still full from my Stevenson breakfast. But during the walk back to a dorm room full of teacher’s manuals and textbooks, I was never full.

Not because my omelet had fully digested as it was time for lunch, but because I was not passionate about what I was training to become.

Perhaps teaching was the only thing I knew coming out of high school. From preschool to 12th grade, there was always an adult in front of the dry erase board guiding me, helping me. Maybe I figured when I became an adult, I should be the one in front of that dry erase board, paying respect to all my teachers before me by following in their footsteps.

But there was no maybe about how that educational psychology class didn’t cut it for me.

What did cut it for me was going to the next Eastern men’s basketball game, watching Emanuel Dildy run the point for the Panthers.

But sports were just a hobby right? Something to watch on television, read in the newspaper and argue about with your roommates?

My answer to that question came the next day while reading The Daily Eastern News. Those words on the page didn’t appear there magically for my viewing pleasure. Someone put in many hours of work to make sure I could read about everything from Cubs baseball in the Chicago Tribune to women’s rugby in The DEN.

It clicked for me that day as I walked down the old brick steps into the McAfee basement to add a journalism minor.

Almost two years have passed and I have seen game winning goals and heart-breaking missed shots, but no matter the outcome of the game, I always walked back home feeling full.

That process is exactly what college is made for.

Sure, beer breakfast at Marty’s is a pretty good reason to go to college, but finding out what really interests you, what you are really passionate for, is what coming to Eastern or any university is all about.

So forget mom and dad’s scorn when you tell them you are thinking about switching your major for the third time or when you decide to stay in school just one more year.

In the long run, all the loans and homework are worth it.

If you just let yourself realize it.