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I graduated!!!
I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a concentration in Psychology, summa cum laude!
Five years ago, I started this journey with an eighth-grade education, and even that was from a Scientology school, where critical thinking was discouraged and the quality of instruction was subpar, to say the least.
I did not get here alone.
Thank you to @NYUSPS and @DeanKamath.
Thank you to everyone who supported me, encouraged me, and believed in me, especially on the days I was not sure I could do this.
And there were plenty of those days.
To my therapist, who told me not to give up when I was told I likely would not be accepted into a prestigious program. To my tutor, without whom I likely would have given up at the harder points along the way.
To all those here who have sent me loving messages on social media. And to everyone else who has cheered me on in person through the ups and the downs of it, it means more than I can put into words.
It got me over this finish line of being a student again and graduating.
That goal once seemed impossible.
To those who have asked me, “Why this? Why now?”
I pursued higher education to reclaim a piece of myself.
When you come out of a high-control group like Scientology, or even a high-control family, there are parts of you that were never allowed to fully develop.
Those parts include your curiosity and your ability and right to question.
Education was discouraged because knowledge creates confidence in your ability to trust your own mind and navigate the world. That leads to true independence, and that would never be allowed.
I wanted that back.
But more than that, I needed to understand.
I needed to understand how my mother could have us join Scientology when I was just eight years old, and how my family and I could be part of something like this and stay in it for so long.
I needed to understand how these systems work, how they influence people, and how they take hold.
Without education, access to real information, and support, people can fall into systems that work against their best interests.
Some assume that because they are educated, even highly educated, they would never fall for something like this.
But it turns out that is not necessarily true.
What many of us are impacted by, but never quite understand, is how high-control groups operate.
Many still do not understand how misinformation spreads, and how tribalism and radicalization shape what we think, what we believe, and who and what we trust.
Without that awareness, none of us are immune.
Today, we are seeing how these forces can influence good people and distort reality. History has shown us that this is not new; it just comes in a different form now.
Social media connects us in ways we never imagined, but it also creates echo chambers that reinforce beliefs and justify behavior without question.
Real critical thinking is hard when we are fed so much by algorithms designed to appeal to us. In learning and achieving this milestone in my own life, it has helped me take a good, hard look at my own beliefs and ideologies.
This journey was about healing for me, but also about figuring out how to help others in whatever way I can in the future.
So what is in my future?
I am considering continuing my education and possibly pursuing a master’s degree, with the goal of contributing to advocacy and policies that protect people, not systems.
For now, I am taking this moment in.
I am proud of myself. And I am grateful.
Thank you for being on this journey with me.
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