John Kazubowski

Change is Good, Trust Me

My youth years consisted of going to school and playing soccer after. I would either play in my backyard with my dad or go to practice with my club team. It was pretty routine and I liked it. I lived out on Long Island in a town called Coram. I liked the friendly neighborhood and the diverse district. I started my high school career in Longwood and it was definitely different than Junior High. After a while though, I got used to it and I enjoyed it. I had my group of friends and I was playing soccer for the school. I was looking forward to sophomore year and playing on the varisty team. However, I never got to experience that. My parents pulled the rug out from under my feet before I even started doing my summer assignments for the fall.

That summer my parents bought a tiny house, which we ended up tearing down and rebuilding, in Smithtown, a town 30 minutes west of my old house. I told my parents that I refused to move but in the end I didn’t have much say in the decision. At first I didn’t accept the change and was miserable at my new school. However, slowly I saw that this move wasn’t so bad. I was offered one of the best soccer programs on the island as well as one of the best academic programs. I was becoming alot more social than in my old school and I was meeting a lot more people. I even met an amazing girl which I’m still with to this day.

Change can be hard at first but if you’re brave enough to accept it can often be good. You should always explore your options because there is a lot out there that you don’t know about. This is exactly what I expect to do at Baruch and in the city. I want to excel in my studies but at the same time I want to maintain a social life, explore the city and take advantage of all it has to offer as well as keeping up with soccer of course.