Oprah Winfrey once said, “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”

For me, passion equals greatness. I learned that after I dropped out of college.

I’m the rst person in my family to go to college. After I graduated from An- napolis High School in 2009, I went straight to Howard University to study broadcast journalism. But after three years, I simply lost my passion for it.

I’ve always been pas- sionate about photography, so I decided to open a pho- tography business. I decided to teach myself everything about having a business. Quickly, though, I learned that this would take forever.

So I enrolled in non-credit photography classes at AACC. In my Photography as a Business class, I realized that I should go back to school for a business degree. After meeting with faculty in the Entrepreneurial Studies In- stitute, I was sold on AACC and pursuing my associate’s degree in something related to entrepreneurship. That was the best decision that I could have ever made.

Since I’ve been here, my passions have stretched beyond photography and business. I’ve become passionate about being a student and getting involved on campus.

In high school, I wasn’t in any clubs or organizations. Here, I am a photographer for Campus Current, the president of the Entrepre- neurs Club, a member of the S.O.D.A Club and Phi Theta Kappa, a Student Govern- ment Association senator, and a member of AACC’s Ser- vice Learning Board.

I don’t count dropping out of college the rst time around as a failure. Failure can shape the way you look at passion because to nd out what you love and want, you have to try di erent things in di erent settings. When you take risks, you usually run into at least one failure, if not more.

Curtis is a sophomore entrepreneurship major.