This summer I applied to a summer school program at Harvard University for college credit. The program was extremely hard to get into; only 3,000 students were accepted, and I was fortunate enough to be one of them. I lived in Cambridge for two and a half months, attended class every Monday and Wednesday in William James Hall, and had my first taste of college.

I studied Behavioral Psychology under professor Richard McNally with 14 other students. Only a few of the students were in high school, a couple had already graduated from college and took the course to diversify themselves at their work place.

Hard work, sacrifice and endurance marked my studying at Harvard. I had never been challenged academically like this in my entire life. The homework consisted of reading multiple 40-page articles, constantly asking about the material during class hours and presenting PowerPoints, based on the articles we read, in a minimum of 15 minutes.

I gained insights into the psychology of people and, as a result, I understand why people do what they do. Information in this area is beyond valuable, but the class offered even more than just that. It also taught students techniques to combat self-control failures, like procrastination and writers-block, applicable tools to the everyday student.

The knowledge this class imparted is priceless by itself, but it taught me more than just that. It showed me that college would be challenging beyond what I understood, but more fulfilling than I expected. –Rees Roggenstein

I was amazed that I was accepted to this program, even more amazed that I passed the course. But the more I thought, the more it made sense that I was able to compete with the other students. Journalism gave me an edge that they did not posses.

The Feather teaches its students the delicate art of presentation, and how to find valuable information and make it applicable. Since my class needed me to create PowerPoints, these skills became invaluable.

Without journalism, without The Feather, I could not compete with my classmates at Harvard. Without The Feather I doubt Harvard would have accepted me in the first place.

In short, I used my connections with journalism and earned Ivy League education. It took me all the way to summer courses at Harvard; it can do that and more for anyone else who takes it just as seriously.

This writer can be reached via Twitter @RRoggenstein.
Follow The Feather on Twitter @thefeather.

For more opinions, read the Sept. 5 article College Corner: Responisbility begins early.