Things Change

When I was still in high school, I thought that I knew what I wanted to do with my future. I had everything planned out. I was planning to go to college to get my bachelor’s degree in fishery biology and management. It was something that I had gone all through high school wanting. To work with marine creatures, making sure that species were being protected, and knowing that one day, I would be able to make a difference was my dream. When I finally started at the University of Wyoming things were going fine until I was asked the question of where do you see yourself in five or ten years. I thought about it, and I was actually lost, I had this whole plan and now it didn’t seem like it fit. So that next semester I changed my degree path to elementary education.

It seemed like the right fit as I came from a huge family of educators. Even going through the motions and going through my classes, I understood what I was learning and I thought it would be a good fit. It was not. I went to my practicums and I would work with children once a week and I felt extremely overwhelmed, and those small children were scary to me. Watching a student throw blocks at other students and the teachers was enough to tell me that I wouldn’t be comfortable to be in this position with someone's child.

I was stuck after that; I hadn't a clue in the world about what I was going to do after that. I had spent an entire school year trying to figure out what I was wanting to do with my future, and it just took me taking the right classes and enough research articles to figure something out. But here’s the thing, I’m not the only person that this happens to. I’ve met people that get one degree or start working in a field they think is the right fit for them and later realize, it isn’t the right fit for me. Not everyone is the same, and a lot of people seem to get stuck if they go into college wanting to work towards one degree that they have to finish it out and get a degree that they no longer want. Don’t be afraid to change what you want. It’s your money that you’re spending, make sure you’re spending it on the degree that you want to get.

I’m now excited for my future career in journalism!