As I was preparing to come to Winona State, family and friends were constantly asking what I wanted to do in the future. As many of you can agree, I’m sure, it seemed a little crazy that as a 19-year-old, I was expected to know what career path I was going to choose for the next 40+ years of my life. In high school, I really enjoyed my sociology and psychology classes and I knew I wanted to work with families and children in a career where I could make a difference. With that in mind, I choose to major in sociology and minor in psychology, with an interest in pursuing a career as a counselor. Junior year came around and I was still set on this career path. However, I felt I was not completely passionate about it. I knew I would succeed but I didn’t feel excited when I talked about it. I wanted to delve deeper.
Fast forward to spring of my junior year, I began the search for an internship that was necessary to finish my sociology degree. I spent days searching online, filling out applications and networking with family and friends. While doing this, I was introduced to a parent of my sister’s friend who is the CEO of the Minnesota Autism Center. Working with those with autism was never really on my radar, so I was very hesitant when she offered me the opportunity to visit their center in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. However, after some pushing from my mom, I set a date to spend the day with one of their clinical psychologists to get some insight about her career as well as pick her brain about the path she took to get to the position she then held. Before I left that day, I had the opportunity to observe some of the children and meet some of the families. This day was life changing. After spending just 30 minutes with 3 of the children, I committed myself to a career working with children with autism. I knew this was the perfect career path for me. I left that day with butterflies in my stomach, because I felt so passionate about the career path I was about to endure on from that point forward. When I share about this experience and future plans with family and friends, I cannot do it without the biggest smile on my face. I found myself lighting up every time I was able to talk about my passion. I am so excited that I have been offered the opportunity to officially live out my urge to make a difference in someone’s life as I will be interning at the Minnesota Autism Center in Rochester this coming May.
With all of that said I want to leave you with this: do not settle. Take every opportunity that comes your way but also reach out to those around you, because you never know what is going to spark the fire inside of you. Whether it be a career path or just a hobby, look at all of the options that this world has to offer and challenge yourself to find that niche that gives you butterflies inside and keeps you excited about life.