I went to community college for graphic design, and I loved it

“I went to community college for graphic design, and I loved it, but I wasn’t into the school thing, so that didn’t work out.” Thus spoke Karrueche Tran, a woman whose journey did not follow the straight road of expectation but wound through trial, discovery, and self-realization. Her words are simple, yet beneath them lies the timeless truth of human striving: that learning takes many forms, and that passion does not always find its home within the walls of formal institutions. Hers is not a tale of failure, but of transformation—the story of one who found her way not by the prescribed path, but by the light of her own becoming.

In these words, we hear the echo of the ancient calling that has stirred in every heart since the dawn of craft and creation. Graphic design, for Tran, was not merely a discipline but a way to express the rhythm of beauty, to make the invisible visible. She loved it—she felt its pulse. Yet she also realized that not all learning flows from classrooms or textbooks. Some spirits are not meant to be confined to rigid structures; they must move freely, learning through experience, intuition, and the vivid testing of life itself. For wisdom, like water, takes the shape of the vessel that holds it, and not all vessels are made of stone and chalkboard.

So it has been with many great creators of history. Leonardo da Vinci had no university degree; his school was the workshop, his teachers the birds, the wind, and the anatomy of the living world. Thomas Edison, too, found little joy in school, for his mind sought not repetition but discovery. Yet both men, guided by curiosity rather than curriculum, reshaped the world with their art and invention. They remind us that education is not the same as enlightenment, and that true learning is not measured by diplomas but by the flame that burns within. Tran’s story continues this ancient lineage: she found her art not through conformity, but through courage—the courage to step away from what did not nurture her and to seek her own design of life.

But let it not be misunderstood: Tran’s words are not a dismissal of learning, but a redefinition of it. She “loved” what she studied; she did not reject knowledge, but the rigid form through which it was delivered. This is a truth that the wise must never forget—that passion and method must align for creation to flourish. For the seed of genius withers if planted in the wrong soil. When she says, “that didn’t work out,” it is not failure speaking, but freedom; not loss, but redirection. The hand of destiny often leads us through the doors we close, not the ones we keep open.

There is a lesson here for the seekers and dreamers of every generation. If you find yourself ill-fitted to the structure of your world—be it a school, a system, or a job—do not despair. The measure of your worth is not in how well you follow, but in how bravely you create. What matters most is not the institution that grants your education, but the devotion with which you pursue your purpose. The artist, the thinker, the builder—each must discover their own rhythm of learning, their own apprenticeship with the universe.

Look to the example of Walt Disney, who left formal schooling early, yet went on to craft worlds that taught millions what imagination could be. His story, like Tran’s, reveals that the absence of traditional schooling does not mark the end of growth—it may, instead, mark the beginning of authentic discovery. The world needs its scholars and its dreamers alike, its academies and its wanderers, for wisdom grows through both roots and wings.

And so, let these words of Karrueche Tran be a beacon to all who feel constrained by the molds of expectation: love what you do, even if the path toward it does not look as others expect. Education is sacred, but so too is individuality. If your heart beats for creation, then let it lead you beyond the classroom and into the living tapestry of the world. Learn by doing, grow by daring, and let your failures be your teachers as surely as your triumphs. For the true school of life is not built of walls, but of experience, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of what you love.

Thus, the ancient truth endures: there are many ways to learn, but only one way to live—authentically. Seek not the approval of the world’s institutions, but the harmony of your own spirit. For those who follow that inner compass, even when “it doesn’t work out” in one place, will find that life itself becomes their greatest design.