{"id":5338,"date":"2026-04-15T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/studentlife\/?p=5338"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:13:39","slug":"personal-growth-at-cedarville-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/studentlife\/2026\/04\/15\/personal-growth-at-cedarville-university\/","title":{"rendered":"The Moment You Realize You Aren’t the Same Person You Were Last Year in College"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you go home, you should be different.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember feeling uncomfortable\u00a0when\u00a0hearing\u00a0those words. I had thought that Getting Started Weekend was all about fun and excitement. At first, that was true:\u00a0Being greeted by dozens of students waving pool noodles and getting settled into my dorm was exhilarating.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But after I had been on campus for a few hours, I attended the\u00a0<\/span>Department of Music and Worship<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Q&A\u00a0led by Professor Beth Porter, known as Mama Porter among the music students.\u00a0She shared a lot of insight\u00a0about\u00a0college life\u00a0during that hour, but\u00a0that word, \u201cdifferent,\u201d\u00a0felt challenging. It implied that I\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0good enough as I was.\u00a0That I had a long way to grow as a\u00a0daughter, a student,\u00a0and\u00a0a Christian.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That I needed to change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a perfectionist, I\u00a0immediately\u00a0felt\u00a0defensive. I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to believe that\u00a0I needed to grow\u00a0or that I needed my college experience to help me do it.\u00a0I\u00a0thought\u00a0that I\u00a0was already doing\u00a0pretty fine\u00a0on my own:\u00a0All throughout high school, I\u00a0was\u00a0known as a kind,\u00a0studious,\u00a0responsible\u00a0goody-two-shoes.\u00a0But during my\u00a0freshman\u00a0year at Cedarville, God repeatedly\u00a0showed me areas of my life that\u00a0He wanted me to change, and He has provided the grace and experiences to help me do so.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Learning\u00a0To\u00a0Love\u00a0People<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before coming to Cedarville, I was known as \u201cthe nice kid,\u201d and I\u00a0embraced that label with joy.\u00a0I started\u00a0every day by praying to act Christlike, and I saw God honor that request by gradually helping me become more loving. I\u00a0was friendly to people who were lonely and needed a friend;\u00a0I felt that I could give a smile and encouraging word to anyone, even to people whom others typically disliked.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But when I came to Cedarville,\u00a0I discovered a problem:\u00a0<\/span>Everyone\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was\u00a0the\u00a0nice kid.\u00a0Before I even noticed\u00a0<\/span>lonely students,\u00a0<\/span>an entire group of other students would have already included them at the lunch table. When students shared needs before class started, someone would offer to pray for them before I could react.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For a while, I was disappointed that\u00a0I now blended in as one of an entire student body of nice kids instead of standing out as one of a few. But\u00a0soon, I realized that\u00a0my disappointment resulted from pride:\u00a0Instead of crediting God\u2019s sanctification\u00a0for\u00a0the positive aspects of my character,\u00a0I credited myself. Cedarville exposed that flaw and gave me\u00a0a special opportunity to learn\u00a0how to love people better\u00a0from other Christians.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That love may look like helping\u00a0a stranger\u00a0shovel their car out of a pile of snow. It\u00a0may look like helping fellow students with homework that you understand better than them. It may mean offering to\u00a0remove a bug from your terrified hallmate\u2019s room. Through all these experiences, people have not only helped me but shown me how to love better, and although I still have a long way to go, God has helped me become more loving throughout\u00a0my first two years\u00a0in the\u00a0Cedarville\u00a0community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning\u00a0To\u00a0Be Confident<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

I am not naturally\u00a0very confident, and before college, I faced a series of doubts:\u00a0What if the work\u00a0is\u00a0too hard? What if\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0too busy?\u00a0What if\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0never prepared for a job after I graduate?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have faced all of these challenges throughout my time\u00a0at\u00a0Cedarville. Some of my classes have been\u00a0harder than I expected, and at times, I have wondered how I would get\u00a0through\u00a0them.\u00a0As a double major, I have a very busy schedule, and I have spent several late nights studying.\u00a0But throughout all of those worries, I\u2019ve overcome challenges that I would have never\u00a0taken on in high school, and I\u2019ve slowly become more confident.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those\u00a0many,\u00a0many\u00a0assignments I have to do?\u00a0They\u2019ll\u00a0get done. That new concept I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0understand?\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0eventually get it, even if I\u00a0have to\u00a0talk to my professor or\u00a0meet with a tutor. And that job after graduation? With all the classes and\u00a0major-related\u00a0work opportunities\u00a0at\u00a0Cedarville, I will be more than prepared.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Learning\u00a0To Accept Failure<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

I entered college with a 4.0 GPA, and I wanted to keep those perfect grades throughout my entire college career.\u00a0To me, my academic aptitude gave me purpose and made me special, even though I recognized the biblical problems with this philosophy. But once I was surrounded by students who\u00a0were smarter than me and\u00a0excelling while I sometimes\u00a0fell\u00a0behind, I had to face a question:\u00a0Am I still special?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As someone who has grown up in church, I could have\u00a0spouted off the Sunday\u00a0school answer:\u00a0\u201cYes, everyone is special because we are all made in the image of God.\u201d But\u00a0until I was no longer at the top of my class,\u00a0I had never confronted that question before.\u00a0I finally had to acknowledge that God has given me the amount of ability\u00a0He wants me to have, and I need to be okay with whatever that ability is.\u00a0Although I still get upset when I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0meet my academic expectations, I am learning to thank God for both my failures and successes\u00a0and\u00a0to\u00a0ask how I can use both to draw me closer to Him.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought Cedarville would challenge me academically; I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0expect it to challenge me personally\u00a0and spiritually.\u00a0A song I learned\u00a0in children\u2019s church is just as true for me as a college student:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s\u00a0still working on me\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

To make me what I ought to be\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The sun and the\u00a0Earth and Jupiter and Mars\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How loving and patient He must be\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019s\u00a0still working on me\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0so glad that God\u00a0is using\u00a0Cedarville to\u00a0help\u00a0accomplish\u00a0His work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"College is about more than academics\u2014it\u2019s a season of personal and spiritual growth. Discover how one Cedarville University student learned to love others, build confidence, and embrace failure while being shaped by her college experience.","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":5370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[50,118,69,48,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-experience","category-college-life","category-experience","category-student-life","category-testimony"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Moment You Realize You Aren't the Same Person You Were Last Year in College - Student Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does college change you? 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