"I needed to break from my old life of high pressure and unreasonable expectations.
I grew up in Louisville, Ky., where my mom, LaCreis, worked as a cancer-research scientist at the University of Louisville. It was just her and I; she raised me as a single mom...
During my freshman year, I quickly went from star student to slacker.
School just wasn’t interesting to me anymore because I didn’t have any close connections with my teachers.
I came from a small, tight-knit community at Thacher, and at Columbia I was lucky if a teacher talked to me. I’m a social learner and Columbia didn’t provide me that opportunity.
I felt like I had to choose between living a life I was passionate about and doing well in school.
Even though I was wired to be a good student, I didn’t feel inspired...
On a rainy day in early April, I couldn’t take it anymore. I broke down hysterically crying on campus while I was trying to study for a test in Lerner Hall. Completely overwhelmed, I didn’t stop sobbing for all 10 blocks to my apartment on 124th Street and Broadway.
At 7 a.m. the next morning, I shot up in bed and told myself, “I’m going to change this.”...
I wanted the time to make sense of my situation alone and have the space to comprehend it. I felt like sharing would force me to explain something I hadn’t even figured out myself. It wasn’t normal to just quit school. But I never expected it to get so out of hand."
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