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About Me // Megan Lineberry

 

 

I sat up, crawled, walked and talked early, even started preschool at 2.5 years old. The pivotal year was when I turned 8; my grandparents took me on a cross-country trip to California. We toured the entire state from San Diego to Humboldt County and everything in between, except I didn't leave my heart in San Francisco as the song goes, but rather in Los Angeles.

 

Stepping out of LAX and feeling the fluorescent Southern California sun in my eyes and the dry desert air on my skin is something I'll never forget. The swirl of frantic activity surrounding me was electrifying. There were whistles blowing, horns honking, people yelling, bus engines roaring and a sea of harried people, all of them seemed to be wearing sunglasses and going somewhere very important. The women at the airport were all so beautiful, so confident and sure of themselves. They wore cloaks of opulence and grace. It was intoxicating to just observe these creatures. I wanted to be like them, to have that feeling of "I know exactly what I'm doing, where I'm going and who I am!" I wanted to wear suits and high heels and carry sleek, modern brief cases to important meetings. That's the day the entire landscape of my life changed.  

 

Upon returning to Virginia, where I spent the first 18 years of my life, I remember vehemently swearing to anyone who would listen that I was going to move to Los Angeles as soon as I grew up. Adults easily dismissed my far-fetched goal and my friends didn't seem too concerned about my declaration to move 3,000 miles away. 

 

Flash forward to age 15 and I was busy meeting with counselors, my parents and dual enrollment specialists at my high school and local community college to get the gears in motion to graduate a year early. After plowing through the entrance exams the summer before my what would have been my junior year, I enrolled in night classes at the college and replaced my study hall with a senior year government course. Before I knew it I was graduating an entire year ahead!

 

After graduating, I worked as a barista in a local coffee shop and a sales associate at Macy's to save money. On breaks I crunched numbers and created budgets, trying to figure out what I could live on. Then just two months before my 19th birthday, I packed up everything that would fit into my car and drove until I got to Los Angeles, where I happily lived my life and drank in all that the city had to offer for the next 6 years. 

 

My love affair with Los Angeles ended as suddenly as it began. Earlier this year I moved myself back to the east coast and currently work at a university in Virginia as the Executive Assistant to the Dean of the School of Health Professions. I adore my job and all that I get exposed to as a result. However, upon completion of my education I aspire to a career in advertising and to relocate farther north to another large city. At this point in my life my education, career and ability to experience international travel are more important to me than settling down with a family. Perhaps it's only fitting that it has taken me the better part of a decade to finish my B.A. degree since I spent the first part of my life doing everying possible to get ahead. CUNY's School of Professional Studies has given me the ability to finally finish my degree while also enabling me to continue fostering my professional life and building my resume. 

 

I have to admit, however, that there is a more whimsical, eccentric side of me that wonders about getting my ESL teaching certificate, putting my stuff in storage and flying off to a foreign land for no other reason than to "see what happens..."  

 

 

 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.