Cleveland State University
Ever since I could talk it seems like my favorite letters were “O-H-I-O”. I was born and raised with a peanut butter and chocolate buckeye in my mouth and a “Block O” on my clothes. It seemed as if The Ohio State University and I were destined for a meeting once I reached adulthood. There were no two ways about it, I was a Buckeye. So naturally I am currently a Cleveland State Viking.
Ohio State was the binding force in my family. Nearly everyone on my father’s side had gone there and so I was happy to follow suit. Mom and dad didn’t attend OSU but, they cheered and roared every time they punched one in the end zone. My biggest influence had to be my uncle Gary who was a reserve wide receiver for the Buckeyes in the late ‘80s. I still wake up in the morning with my bed covers drenched in scarlet and gray.
It wasn’t long before I was in high school and needed to think about what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I tossed around ideas in my head as a freshman and sophomore. Was I going to stick with the original plan and attend Ohio State, or would I rebel. I finally decided that I wanted to go into accounting because of my knack for solving math problems.
I looked at all of the accounting programs at different schools. None in the area really stuck out to me. The good programs were either too far away or in a secluded area in the middle of nowhere. This plan wasn’t working out quite as I had hoped.
I contemplated choosing a school for other reasons like sports. The only sport I was good in was track and field throwing the discus. I even had offers from Tiffin University and Notre Dame College to come compete for them. I ultimately decided that college sports were way too time-consuming and I wanted to focus on my schoolwork.
I was continuing to narrow down my choices of colleges. I widdled down the number of schools to three. Those three colleges were Tiffin, Cleveland State and The Ohio State Universities. For most of the past three months I was leaning towards Ohio State, mainly due to meanings of family pride.
I enrolled in Fall classes at Cleveland State the following year. The past two years have confirmed that I made the right decision, even though it seemed as if it was forced. Looking back now I am still a Buckeyes fan, but Cleveland State is my university and I would not change a thing. I have learned that there is a distinct plan for my life and change is inevitable.
About the Author: Matt Marcinick is currently a student at Cleveland State University and will be graduating with a Bachelors in Communication in December. He has grown up and still lives just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. He enjoys spending time with family and friends as well as the occasional video game. Matt interned at WEWS NewsChannel 5 in Cleveland and has been part of numerous video projects in the Cleveland area. He is a Board Member of the Live Safe Foundation and believes that living fire safe is the secret to living a long and healthy life.
Live Safe Foundation is an Ohio based non-profit organization (501c3), and leading grassroots movement, devoted to making and fire and life safety education, awareness initiatives and life saving tools available on a broad basis to communities, campuses, and institutions in an effort to reduce national fire fatalities and fire losses. Live Safe aims to help finance fire safety education where means are otherwise unavailable. Live Safe is developing and sponsoring programs to help groups find the resources needed to advance individual and community fire safety.
