I had mixed feelings about coming to the Medill journalism program. I knew it would be a great opportunity to improve my reporting and writing skills and gain real experience, but I could only focus being away from my friends for five weeks during what should have been our penultimate summer before college.

I didn’t fall in love with the program immediately. I had a love-hate relationship with all of my assignments. I felt stressed most of the time, constantly lamenting that I shouldn’t be working during one of my last summers of my childhood.

I felt lost in the evenings, too. I hadn’t exactly grown close to anyone, and there was no one to open up to.

At the end of the first week, I signed up for blog club. On the first Sunday, instructor Mary Lou Song assigned the group our first writing topic: chance.

I spent hours working on that blog, and by the end, I had written a personal story that explained the last two years of my life in a mere 400 words. I was immediately apprehensive about presenting it to the other cherubs during the club presentations.

It wasn’t until five minutes before I read my blog that I decided to do it. Presenting was so nerve-racking. By the time I was done, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off of me.

Walking back to my seat, my fellow cherubs greeted me with supportive words. I began to realize that I’d been too quick to judge the Medill cherubs program. I also realized that I had not given the program a good chance.

In the following weeks, I opened up to almost all of my fellow cherubs. Now, they are some of my best friends. I remember thinking I wouldn’t miss it here when I left. Now, I fear that I will be a crying mess as I hug everyone goodbye.

Reading my story in blog club helped me open up to cherubs, and if I hadn’t done so, I would have had a much less enjoyable summer. Chance was an appropriate topic that week because I gave the program a second chance.