Despite this, Kaur remained studious and dedicated to her studies. As a result, she graduated high school with honors and an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. After graduating high school and going through a mentally tumultuous period, Kaur took a semester off to travel to India and clear her head. However, when she returned home to Indianapolis, Kaur says she experienced reverse culture shock and wasn’t sure where to start. “Just like any other Ivy Tech student, honestly, I didn't know what to do with the hurdles that I had already encountered in life and where to begin on the higher education journey,” Kaur said. Kaur decided to enroll at Ivy Tech Community College on the downtown Indianapolis campus. It was a decision Kaur says she made reluctantly. “I remember feeling very ashamed and confused,” she said. “There was this notion in high school that honors students like me don't belong in a place like Ivy Tech and that I should at the very least be striving for IUPUI, which was the very bottom of the bar,” Kaur said, describing the stigma around community college at the time. Kaur planned to be at Ivy Tech for a semester, get good grades in transferrable classes and apply to IUPUI as soon as possible. But then she met Dr. M. Beth Borst, our founding dean of Honors College. And just like that, the trajectory of Kaur’s time at Ivy Tech Indianapolis and, subsequently, her higher education journey changed. Dr. Borst talked with Kaur about Honors College and the cost-effectiveness of earning her associate's degree in business
administration before pursuing her bachelor’s – and she was off to the races. “Now, in retrospect, I completely disagree with anyone who has the assessment that any high school honors student shouldn’t consider community college,” Kaur said. “Ivy Tech changed my life. I've said it before, and I'll say it again – I wouldn't be where I am now without Ivy Tech.” Kaur experienced several influential moments during her time at Ivy Tech Indianapolis, starting with one of her very first Honor’s College classes instructed by Dr. James C. Duncan, our current director of Global Education and humanities professor. The course was titled “Philosophy of Religion,” and Kaur says the lessons she learned in the class are still instrumental in how she approaches various decisions in her personal and professional life. Kaur says she found value in just about every class she took at Ivy Tech. Especially her English courses, where she re-learned essay writing more comprehensibly. Overall, Kaur says the term “it is what you make it” is especially true at Ivy Tech Indianapolis.
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