Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way you expect it to. College students struggle every day with the impending future of what life after college will be like. Will they have the career of their dreams or will they be living with their parents, struggling to make ends meet? Many students don’t know what career path they want to pursue, sometimes changing their degree path halfway through the four (or five) year experience.
My story is similar to many others. It began when I was a second-semester freshman scrolling through a class course list looking for answers because in my mind, I needed to have everything figured out. Prior to this moment, I had shadowed a speech pathologist at a local organization, I had spoken with social workers about what their day-to-day tasks were like at work, I had taken an array of intro classes to many different subjects, and I had talked to several teachers about what it would be like to pursue a psychology degree. I was desperately grasping for a connection and I felt discouraged. I was going through all of the motions to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
This feeling continued through to the beginning of my sophomore year of college. I decided to join several organizations on the U of M campus where I met so many individuals, each bringing something different to the table. I learned about what each individual was pursuing just by getting to know them, and I ended up meeting someone named Kelly who was studying public relations. I had no idea what it was, so I asked her a lot of questions and ended up deciding to take an intro class at the spur of the moment. The rest is history.
If I could give advice to other college students, I would tell them to join an organization, meet people, and ask them questions, because that’s how I found my passion. One of my favorite quotes is from Michael Dell, “Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people...or find a different room.” That’s exactly what I did and through that, I was able to find my passion.
I am now a senior who is about to graduate with four different internship experiences under my belt. One of my favorites was my internship this past summer at Obsidian Public Relations. That summer didn’t involve a vacation, but it involved a lot of self-discovery and growth. So, to all of you college students out there — there is hope! Dive in and immerse yourself in campus organizations and your community, and you’ll find your way, I promise.
