I live in Bardstown, Kentucky. Population: approximately 13,000. Considered the “bourbon capital of the world”, USA Today named Bardstown “The Most Beautiful Small Town in America” in 2014 which we continue to herald as one of our most significant accomplishments. I attend a high school where I will graduate with only about 60 others, and the school has less than 250 students in total. It’s pretty obvious that my life and my town can be summarized with one simple word: small.
My school is small, my town is small, my life is small, everything is small, so anyone could assume that my dreams and aspirations would probably follow the same trend. But they would be wrong. It’s true, my peers seem to have small goals: graduate high school, go to a state university, graduate, move back to Bardstown, get a job, and start a family. That’s it. That’s all. Those are their aspirations.
For most people, being surrounded by seemingly everything small generates a small mindset about their future. Small town students have unfortunately been trained to repress their dreams which in turn gives them small mindsets about what they can accomplish. We aren’t taught to aspire to greatness, so we decide we don’t need to work hard. Thankfully, I have dodged the apathetic attitude about my goals. I refuse to limit myself to the confines of Kentucky, for I know I can only truly thrive and reach my potential in a bigger city surrounded by others with bigger dreams.
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” -Colin Powell
Unlike my peers, living in a small town has taught me to dream big, to shoot for the stars, to want the best for myself. Through “sweat, determination, and hard work” I know that I will be able to achieve my dreams. I know that I can acquire what I aspire. I want others to dream as I do.
We need to start encouraging all teenagers, regardless of geographic location, to believe in themselves and to work hard to get where they want to be. We can’t create a teenage apathetic culture. We need a generation of hard workers; we need the next generation of leaders, activists, politicians, CEOs, writers, athletes, scholars, dreamers. Nothing is more powerful than one’s dreams. The difficulty, though, is convincing someone to use that—especially those in small towns. We can’t continue to let small town’s small scopes repress the dreams and aspirations of their citizens. Teach teens how to accomplish their dreams.