Assignment 4 - Lindsey Angel

Growing up, I attended a private Catholic school from the first day of kindergarten till eighth-grade graduation. As you might imagine, the environment was an extremely conservative one. To be quite frank, I wasn't exposed to many, if any, liberal ideas till I reached high school, especially since most of my close family are registered Republicans. In all honesty, I was not even really involved in politics at all. So as you may imagine, freshman year was a bit of a culture shock to hear people my age preach their beliefs so openly, ones that often differed from the belief system I had been surrounded by my whole life. Consequently, freshman year I found myself questioning and re-examining a lot of the beliefs I had been raised upon, particularly several social beliefs that both the Catholic church and Republican party condemn. While I still identify as more conservative, when it comes to several social issues, my beliefs are more left wing - a few of which greatly shocked my family, including the right for women to have abortions. I am forever grateful for my high school experience in that it taught me to form my own beliefs, independent of my friends, family, and church.