Junior year is supposed to be the most important year of college since that is the year in which everything you do matters. Even though it’s the penultimate year (for most), it still feels like a weird halfway point between being an underclassman and an upperclassman. It’s the point of no return in terms of changing your major (unless you want to add a year or two), yet isn’t quite the end. Essentially, you are supposed to have your life figured out at the start of Junior year; your major and ideal career path are supposed to be finalized so you can do all of the necessary tasks to get to where you want to go, be it grad school or the workforce. That means you have already finished all of your general education requirements and are in the introductory courses for your major.
Unless, of course, you’re like me, and you did everything backward. I came to college wanting to major in English with a minor in Creative Writing. I completed several of the English requirements, pushing my general education classes to the side with the idea that I’d fulfill them later. However, UNC created new concentrations for the English and Comparative Literature major, one of them being a concentration in Creative Writing with options for Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction or a combination of those three. Because of this, I changed my major with an intent to become a serious writer and have validation for my talent. Not many of the English requirements transferred over, so I’m still taking classes to fill the core requirements on top of taking general education classes and courses for my Folklore minor.
Such is life. My plans changed further after being employed by the Housing Department as a Resident Advisor during my sophomore year.
Being an RA opened many doors for me, doors that would have been closed off otherwise. I found pure joy in working with first-year students and being able to be crafty, all while meeting new people. The job integrates administrative work with arts and crafts. It’s like being a camp counselor in some aspects. Even the Community Directors, my bosses, are super cool. I would have game nights with my co-workers over the summer and had an absolute blast. I was even close with my interim Community Director, sharing inside jokes and having a transparent relationship with her. It was this particular Community Director’s husband, also a Community Director, who suggested I pursue a career in Student Affairs.
I don’t know why that idea never came to mind earlier, but it fit everything I wanted, the freedom to be able to pursue other dreams while earning a steady income, something that makes me feel youthful and something that never feels mundane. I fear a life of mediocrity, and college has been everything but that. The Community Directors all tell me that there is hardly a dull day with the job, between meeting with other Community Directors, interacting with the residents, and conversing with the RAs and office assistants. I would basically be a professional RA with a few more administrative tasks on my plate, but I could definitely work with that.
Being a Community Director also means I would never leave a college campus. I love the atmosphere on campuses, anyway, so I don’t mind that at all. Even if I wanted to leave and choose a different career, I would be able to use that time employed by a university as a type of gap year to ease my transition into a “real” job. In some ways, I think I might be deciding on this career as a way to avoid the idea of growing up and becoming an adult, but everything about myself seems to fit into the ideal hire: I’m personable and able to delegate, and I love team building and managing groups of people, while also acting as a mentor to my team members. The idea of never leaving college absolutely thrills me, but there are just a few technicalities that are ambiguous right now.
Here I am, starting my Junior year with the majority of my major completed, and now I’m coming to a realistic idea of what I want to do for a living. Stressful, no? All Community Directors have a Master’s degree in Higher Education or something along those lines, so I’m left wondering how I’m going to get from point A to point B without adding in too many curves. I love a good scenic route, but not when my future is concerned. For now, I have to navigate this career choice with my head held high. The fear is real, dear readers, but it is manageable. There are so many people that can help me through this transition, or tell me if there even needs to be one, that I can rely on.
I have always dreamed of being an author to provide for my family, but real life has different plans. It’s a part of growing up, realizing that you can’t always reach a goal, but also realizing that it doesn’t make you a failure. No, life teaches you to compromise and to understand that nothing is ever unattainable, but those goals will require extra work. It’s about the priorities in life, no matter how scary it is.