I was born and raised in a suburb of Kansas City on the Missouri side. While my parents were not die-hard Tigers fans, my uncle and my friends’ families were. From going to Mizzou’s “Journalism Day” every year to knowing every word of Mr. Brightside, it was always at the back of my mind for where I would end up.Â
Once I hit my junior year of high school, everyone started asking me the dreaded question, “Where are you going to college?” For a while, I hated this question because it seemed scary, so my answer was almost always “I’ll probably end up at Mizzou.” I wanted to major in journalism, and so for a while I thought that was my only option.Â
Due to the strong opinions of KU vs MU from my hometown, I received lots of arguments from people hating on Mizzou and others hating on KU.Â
It wasn’t until February of my senior year that I debated going to the University of Kansas. When I first told people that I was considering going to KU, I got many negative reactions like “a Jayhawk is a made-up bird,” and “there is nothing KU has that Mizzou doesn’t.”Â
There was one main factor that played into where I went to college, and everyone was proving my point by not liking that I went to KU; my goal was to go somewhere where I didn’t know a lot of people. I can count on two hands the number of people I know who go to KU, and I LOVE IT. I love being able to make friends who have no connection to anyone from back home. I now see everyone who goes to Mizzou, and it looks like high school 2.0.
Another reason why I ultimately picked KU was because of its connection to Kansas City. I have many friends who have jobs and internships in KC and are able to stay in Lawrence. While my Mizzou friends end up having to move closer to the city because Columbia is simply too far away. Â
During the football season, I do still feel some pride for Gold and Black. But I ultimately made the correct decision and love it here. Rock Chalk!
