Now, I realize that the homepage already has my name gloriously displayed on it but I still feel the need to introduce myself properly.
Hello, my name is Jordan Poll and I am a lover of stories. I have been in love for as long as I can remember. Where other children played sports or took up crafting, I collected stories. Books covered every surface in my room as I hungrily consumed one after another in an attempt to satisfy my unquenchable appetite for stories. Eventually, I began writing my own stories using both my own experiences as well as those I collected as a rapt listener.
Yet, when my high school teachers began demanding I choose a profession, I had to shove my love away. Neither my parents nor my teachers would accept that I wanted to make a living telling stories. "There is no future in that," I heard a million times. After countless career aptitude tests and not-so-subtle hints from my elders, a 14-year-old me finally decided that I would become a Histotechnician.
Fast forward a few years.
I begin my first year at Michigan State University working towards a degree in Genomics and Molecular Genetics. I had just received my associate's degree and certification in Histology as a Histotechnician and now I embark on a path to become a geneticist. My schedule includes: my first physics lab and lecture, a chemistry lab and lecture, and a general requirement IAH course. IAH 207 to be specific. It was the first time I was able to read something besides a textbook since I first entered college two years prior and I loved it. The passion that I had confined and shoved away since high school returned with a vengeance. The course was called Lit, Cultures, and Identities. It was taught by Graduate Assistant Nathan Leaman, to whom I will forever be grateful to because, unbeknownst to him, with a single email he changed my life.
"I really enjoyed the contributions you made to our class discussions, Jordan. If you don't already have a major, you should think about going into Literature or the Humanities. (Or if you do have a major, you should switch!)"
I scheduled a meeting with my advisor that very day. It took Mr. Leaman pointing it out for me to finally see that science was a job, not a passion.
That semester, I failed my Chemistry lecture. What normally would have been a crushing blow to this honor roll student, was only a weight off my shoulders. To be completely honest, I failed because instead of studying I was overindulging in my once lost love of story telling. I starting picking up the books I had hidden away in the back of my closet and journaling the stories I heard on my daily travels to and from class. My heart just wasn't in the sciences and I finally realized it.
I immediately switched my majors and began rebuilding my GPA as I worked towards a bachelor's degree not only in Professional Writing, with a specialization in Editing and Publishing, but also in English.
Now, I am graduated. I have a frame worthy diploma and two bright and shining degrees. I have so many gems decorating my resume that anymore and it will be spilling onto a second page.