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            It was around five o’ clock on a normal Tuesday afternoon; it was a long day of school so I came home like I usually did and took a nap. However, there was something very different about this Tuesday nap, when I woke up I looked at my phone and saw over one hundred text messages and thirty missed calls. My mom came darting into my room and gave me the most nerve-racking wake up call in my life “Ben, the Maryland acceptance decision is out, go check!”

            Checking whether you got into a college, especially your first choice is a period of excruciating nerves for any High School senior. But it was different for me; there was only one option.

            The first years of my life were spent being a Florida Gator fan because that was where my dad went; in my household we bled blue and orange. However, on a January night in 2002 that all changed. Florida was playing a school that I had never heard of in the Orange Bowl, the Maryland Terrapins. Probably to be rebellious, I chose to route for the Terps. Maryland got humiliated in the game (something I would soon get used to), but I had a new found love: the University of Maryland.

            From that night I never looked back, I rapidly became obsessed with the school and its sports teams. Of course, when I was seven or eight years old the “school” part of UMD did not matter, it was all about the sports. However, as I grew and focused more on my education in Middle School and High School my heart was set on attending Maryland for the education aspect of college as well. Beginning in seventh grade I wanted to become a sports broadcaster and imitate all the successful men I have listened to my whole life. Unknown to me, Maryland had one of the best journalism schools in the country; this factor made it even more of a match.

            As senior year came I only wanted to apply to one school, I thought to myself “if I don’t get into Maryland I’m not going anywhere.” My parents thought differently however, and made me apply to a few different schools. I still thought deep down that Maryland was the only option, there was nowhere else I had any intention of spending the most important four years of my life. I barely put any time or effort into any application but Maryland’s because I really didn’t care if I got in elsewhere.

            After finishing the application process, the months of December and January were long and mentally frustrating. I spent hours on a day contemplating my chances of getting in and what would happen if I didn’t. Maryland had been the school I grew to love and idolize. I had visited Maryland from New Jersey over ten times, my heroes wore a Maryland uniform, the journalism school would help me reach my greatest heights, and everything about it was perfect.

            So when the nap was over on that snowy, bitter January Tuesday, I knew I had to face the biggest decision of my life, and it was totally out of my hands. So many thoughts were going through my head on the forty-second walk from my room to the computer that it felt like forty minutes. I logged on, heart pounding faster and louder than ever before; my fingers were shaking so furiously I could barely type my login. “It is finally here”, I thought, “there’s no going back now.” So I opened the webpage and read the finest, most blissful paragraph of my life: “congratulations on your acceptance to the University of Maryland.”

            Over ten years of work, hope, and a little bit of luck put into one thrilling, jubilant reaction. My mission was complete; I was finally a Terp.