No Longer Scared of the Future

If I am anything like my younger sisters, not long ago I was playing with dolls, acting like a grown up and wishing that I could grow faster. Now that I am grown, I realize how much easier life was back then. My hardest choices were which cereal to eat for breakfast, what shirt to wear to school and which television show to watch after school. If only I would have realized how simple life was and how complicated it was going to get.

Now that we’re sophomores, it seems that everyone expects us to know what we want to do with the rest of our lives. While I know what I’m majoring in and what sort of classes I enjoy, I am not ready to pick the job for me. I know I won’t be a doctor or an engineer, but that still leaves many options to choose from. Likely for me though, I am going to a liberal arts college where I'm being taught the skills I’ll need for the future, not just for one specific job.

I came back to college early to participate in the Bantam Sophomore Success Program that’s put together by our Career Development Center. From I had heard from other students, it was a program that talked to us about finding jobs after college or going to graduate school, resume and cover letter writing skills and other areas of importance. I signed up for it because it was the right thing to do, not meaning that I was quite sure of what I would expect. After doing the program, I am so glad that I didn't let my fears of the future get in the way. I learned so much after networking, resume writing, pursuing your passion and met some cool people. Overall, I left the program with the mindset that I’ll be in control of what path my career takes because I've got the skills to seek out what I want.

Too often for me, I've been told that I’ll have a great future and I believe that, but I also know how easy things can go wrong if I mess up. Having immigrant parents has shown me how much they sacrifice so that I might have a better future, a future that includes doing what I love. While I'm in college getting an education and working towards that better future, I'm also behind. If I hadn't taken the initiative to go to this program, I would have had to educate myself on networking, resume writing and all that’s needed to a successful applicant for a job or graduate school. If I hadn't done that, I wasn't helping myself towards that better future. That’s one disappointment I had with the program. The students who participated didn't capture the diversity found at Trinity. Most seem to come from backgrounds where they would have parents speak to them about the issues we covered and the steps they took towards their careers. The speakers also reminded us to make sure that we ended up doing what we love, which isn't easy to think about when you have parents who weren't able to just that. It would have been awesome to hear from people who didn't come from the traditional background, but were still able to reach their potential. In general, this program has gotten me excited for the future and figuring out what I’ll end up doing.