My Journey Here In PCCC by Paul Angel Perdomo

“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello”. - Paulo Coelho 

Perdomo reading poetry at the Visions Newspaper Award Ceremony

After graduating high school, I took a gap year during which I became  too comfortable and founding myself with too much free time that I hardly contributed to anything or my personal growth. 

Later, I trained in retail and landed my first paying job at a Amazon Warehouse, but then the global shutdown came due to Covid-19. It wasn’t until 2021 that I attended Passaic County Community College and the time there was life changing. 

I enrolled in a 12-week course during my first semester, thinking it would be a shortcut to success. However, I learned the hard way that this approach had its challenges. Yet, these challenges turned out to be a blessing in disguise for better or worse. 

My five years in PCCC have been an interesting journey. I met fascinating professors and classmates who taught me about variety of subjects, discovering more about myself, became more open-minded, and grew from the opportunities presented to me. I also had a brief work-study job last summer, which made me miss the joy of hard work and earning a paycheck. 

Sometimes, I often feel like an outsiders due to my age since I’m surrounded my younger students and to be blunt, not being politically correct nor progressive when it comes to politics and current social issues; I stand my grounds and avoid getting involved in things that are none of my business. I live by my personal philosophy that states that we are born with different skills and talents, but no one is inherently special, regardless of background or orientation. I choose no sides in matter of war, capitalism will always find ways to make a profit on certain movements or rebellious causes, defunding law enforcement will not solve anything, ESG and DEI practices do more harm than good, I will not apologize for being a man, woke and cancel culture does not make anything better, and despite the country’s obvious flaws; I am an American. 

Now that I’m older and a little bit wiser, I hope to continue to better myself and improving along the way. 

I’m uncertain about what the future will hold for me, mainly because I don’t envision myself moving to California, which I view it as chaotic place. We’re living in a time where creativity is being overshadowed by greed, propaganda, ideologies, and agendas, and nothing taste nor feels like living anymore. 

As I prepare to receive my associate degree, I’m both terrified and excited about the prospect of spending another two or three years of my life pursuing my bachelor’s degree.