Matthew Carvajal is young man with Asperger’s syndrome, a condition on the Autism spectrum. Matt, a Sock Wrangler and Sock Scriber at John’s Crazy Socks, is an essential team member working to spread happiness and show every day what is possible when you give a person a chance. Matt is going to college for the first time and sharing his experience in a blog, so others can learn of the challenges someone with Asperger’s faces and inspire others to know that they are not alone.

 We must learn to grow up as responsible individuals. The most effective way to have learning experiences is to go to school. After you graduate from school, it’s also very effective to go to college. This is such a time proven fact that it’s almost disreputable, yet some people still claim that college is a “waste of time and money”. It’s not. When you learn new things or advance on the knowledge that you already know, it is never a waste of time. And although college can be quite costly, you probably have some sort of Financial Aid assistance in the state you live in here in the U.S.A that can help you reduce the price of college. So, the false myths about college can easily be shot down, but it makes you wonder: Where do these misconceptions about college come from? What would be the goal for someone to spread misinformation about college, because the result would be less people going to college. Maybe I’m just overthinking this, but if those people would have convinced me not to go to college, I would of never experience how great Farmingdale State College would be.

When I first went to the college, on the way there, I was very nervous. What if I don’t find my classes? What happens if I don’t fit in? What if the food is bad and terribly overpriced? As soon as I walked into the main intersection at the college and saw the high-flying water fountain, my nervousness, as crippling as it was, turned into an inspiration. I stared at the water for about 30 seconds, and I thought that if the college was going to invest with such a great display, they can have the ability to invest in their students. They can help me find my classes. They can help me fit in. And they could probably help point me towards the good eats on campus. For the first time in my life, I felt calm in an educational setting. Elementary, Middle, and High School didn’t give me that feeling. I hope and must likely will feel this way through my time at college.

Matthew Carvajal