By Laura Carr ’17
Editor-in-Chief
Almost everybody comes into college with an idea of how they want their life to turn out after four years of late nights in the library, sober and not-so-sober nights at the Sunnies and long hours devoted to various extracurricular activities.
I thought I would be a network news anchor, the next Erin Andrews. I remember my reasoning for this vision: there is very little money in a career in print/online journalism, but broadcasting can make you millions. Now, I’m not so sure about what I want to do, so much as who I want to be and how I plan to get there.
I interned at a public relations firm in Downtown Los Angeles this past summer, and I think that my experience there was a much better gage for what I want to do with my life than my CNN pipe dream.
How did I arrive at that decision? A combination of writing for The Denisonian, working at my dad’s commercial real estate firm and my continued desire for a comfortable postgraduate lifestyle.
You see, I don’t think that your major necessarily has to apply to what you want to do in the future. I’m a creative writing major and I want to go into a business that mixes real estate with public relations.
When it comes down to it, I think the extracurricular activities that you do are what really matters, even if they seem unrelated. After the final issue of The Denisonian comes out in December, I, along with my co-editors Elaine Cashy and Jewell Porter, will step down and a new staff will take over. December seems so far away, but we are still putting thought into who might fill our places.
When we discuss this, we tend to wonder why someone might consider applying to be a writer, editor or photographer. Is it to pad a resume, or is it out of a genuine passion for journalism? Even if it is the latter, I am pretty sure that having that one extra activity on a resume does go into consideration.
I’m also the co-president of Her Campus Denison. When I interviewed for the position, I had no idea how much work I would have to put into HC, and I didn’t even know that much about the organization other than the fact that I liked writing for it. I can’t deny that being in charge of one more campus media group had its appeal. However, I am now six months into my tenure, and I absolutely love it, even the parts that stress me out the most.
Yes, you should worry about your resume a bit; but you shouldn’t let concerns about the future keep you from trying something new. If you want to be President of the United States one day, your time as Editor-in-Chief of The Adytum could help you more than being on DCGA, and if you want to be a librarian, organizational skills from being the manager of the Bandersnatch might be the deciding factor for someone reading your job application.
I guess the moral of the story is this: don’t always let your future be the deciding factor for everything that you do now. As cliche as it sounds, you are at a liberal arts school with endless opportunities, and that is a gift that should be cherished.