Keeping with my flashback theme, I want to talk about how I got started in this wonderful field of writing. It was never something I planned on doing or had any interest in, although growing up I loved to read and write.
When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to take German as a foreign language. Wanting to impress my German step-grandparents, I took German for all four years in high school. I remember looking at colleges and I had no idea what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I toured school after school, deciding that I wanted to go to college to become a high school foreign language teacher. I decided to attend Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.
Nazareth College dorm room, August 2009
As I watched my parents drive away, I started to cry. This was my very first time away from home and I didn't like it. I chalked it up to not knowing what to expect. Many times, we hear about the freshman 15. The freshman 15 is usually when a person puts on a ton of weight during their first year. I had the opposite effect. I hated Nazareth enough that I stopped eating and lost 15 pounds.
I had discussed the idea of transferring after my freshman year as soon as Thanksgiving break came around. My parents told me that I had made a commitment to Nazareth for my freshman year and that I needed to see the commitment through and then we could discuss transferring. I stuck out my freshman year, but I was not happy.
Finding a college to transfer to that offered German language was another challenge. I knew I wanted to teach (or so I thought) and finding a school that offered foreign language as a major was hard. I finally decided to change my major to early childhood education. My choice came down to Mitchell College in New London, CT and Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ.
Mitchell College, May 2013
I transferred to Mitchell in August of 2010. I absolutely loved the experience during my three years of college at the coastal Connecticut college. However, I still wasn't happy with my major. I took an early childhood education class and I hated it. I really had no idea of what I wanted to do. I decided to take a bunch of classes and find the major that set my soul on fire.
I went from psychology, to sociology, to criminal justice. I tried my hand at science, music, theater. Nothing made me excited, until I took journalism. From the very first class with a local news reporter as my professor, I fell in love. Life has a crazy way of always coming around. Journalism was the class I took right at the end of the spring semester of my sophomore year. I declared my major in communications and the rest is history.
I was fortunate to have an academic advisor who told me to vary the kinds of classes that I took. I absolutely stand by his advice. Do not limit what kinds of classes you are going to take. I varied the classes I took and focused on interpersonal communication skills, group communication skills, public relations, video production, photography, film study, and radio production.
On the air at Radio Mitchell
After settling into my major, I got involved on campus. I became a host for our on campus radio station, Radio Mitchell. I also started working hard toward being inducted into honor societies on campus, becoming a part of them as a member of the executive boards. I also helped organize events in my residence hall.
It came to me today as I've been writing this blog that when I finally settled my major, everything else in life started to fall into place. I started to have an easier time making new friends, I wanted to get involved on campus, I was getting excellent grades and banking excellent GPA's. When everything starts going to plan, all the other things in your life will start to fall into place.
If I can pass on any piece of advice, just find something that makes you happy and throw yourself at it with all of your heart and mind. Eventually, you'll find that all the other parts of your life get a bit happier too.
Signing off,
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