Caleb Horton

We, as humans, strive to be recognized and remembered. It is not uncommon for people to go out of their way to get attention or feel important. Everyone in life wants to feel as if they matter. Growing up as a middle child in a family of five children, I often felt like my achievements and my emotions were overlooked by the rest of the family. Children often do things to gain attention and recognition from their parents; but for me, having a younger brother of one year usually meant getting ignored, I doubt purposefully, but nonetheless, I was ignored. In effect, I grew up with very little ability or motivation to express myself. I was teased a lot in school, but I never told my family. I was even labeled timid and shy as a 15 year old. It wasn't until my senior year of high school, and eventually college, that I became more open to self expression and finding myself. Finding out what I do and don't like, what I do and don't value, what I do and don't find funny, and my actual strengths and weaknesses. In this quest to figure myself out, I have found much confidence. I have gained much more appreciation for the arts, and much respect to those who are artistically gifted. I, myself, am a math-oriented person, but I have found so much creativity by examining the artistic aspects of life. I have completely fallen in love with the idea of enriching myself with life experience. I choose to grow old and become wealthy with wisdom. My biggest struggle in college has been balancing my desire to venture out and experience, and the necessity to sit down and study. I am currently in the process of re-planning my life, but I hope to use gained artistic abilities along with my intended major, Finance, to become successful monetarily and feed my family.