Classroom Therapy

I'm taking a senior seminar course this semester in order to complete requirements within the Journalism and Mass Communication department at my college. We took time at the beginning of the class period to go around and say a little bit about ourselves, like our track within the department and what we want to do after graduation.

I was not expecting this to be like a therapy session, but everyone took this as an opportunity to be really honest, and it was both refreshing and scary.

• "I have no idea what I want to do after graduation."
• "I just want a job! I don't really care what it is as long as it pays."
• "I'm doing Broadcast, and I just started an internship at a local TV station. I hate it!"
• "My internship showed me that this might not actually be what I want to do."
• "Hopefully I find a job after graduation. I will have to go back to school if I don't."
• "I'm really worried I won't be able to find a job."
• "I don't even like this major anymore, but I just want to graduate!"

These were the types of comments I heard as we circled the classroom. I'm also worried that finding a job is going to be quite the challenge, so it was comforting in a way to hear that I wasn't alone. I was, however, discouraged to hear so many people unhappy with their major.

Our professor took this as an opportunity to tell his story about finding his passions and making a career out of it. He was a college student and nearly dropped out, then started doing environmental work and paired that with his passion for writing.

I started to think that maybe if things don't work out right away for me, I can always go back to school (even though I'm not fond of that idea) and get a degree in nutrition, then pair my writing experience with my passion for health. Who knows.