I’m sure you’re not thinking “four years isn’t enough” when you start your first day of college.
Four years seems like a lifetime when you’re just starting out. However, these seniors beg to differ. To them, it isn’t enough. Seniors Sophie Hirt, Anna Packer, Emma Damewood, and MacKenzie Browning are feeling a little reminiscent as their time at the Mount is coming to a close.
Damewood is graduating this May with two bachelor's degrees, one in psychology and one in social computing. I asked these seniors if their expected career path changed at all since their freshman year, as the National Center for Education Statistics says “Within three years of initial enrollment, about 30 percent of undergraduates in associate and bachelor degree programs who had declared a major had changed their major at least once.”
She said that it actually did. She started out wanting to study and do something in abnormal psychology, but then she had an experience the summer of her junior year that changed her mind. She was helping at a summer camp, and she realized just how much she loved working with children. So, she now plans to go back for her master’s in school psychology. However, she is taking a gap year after graduation to work and save up money while she is researching and applying to grad programs.
She said that after graduating she is “most looking forward to getting to put my learning into practice, and apply all that I been studying for into the real world and her job.” Lastly, I asked about her favorite memory at the Mount. She said her favorite memories are the “snow days, especially the back-to-back ones we had this January.”
Graduating with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts, Hirt is planning on coming back to MSJ to get her master’s in education, with an Integrated Language Arts licensure next fall. She was a transfer student her sophomore year, coming from Purdue where she originally was studying veterinary nursing. When she came to Mount St. Joseph, she started out in education with a concentration in English, but then switched to liberal arts with a concentration in English. She’s coming back to her education roots next fall, and we couldn’t be prouder of her! (That being said, I’m definitely not biased, as I’m her roommate and an education student.)
Her favorite memory during her time as an undergraduate student here is “girls nights with my friends like our pumpkin painting night and Superbowl watch party.” Like Damewood, she said she is “most looking forward to bringing my learning from undergraduate to my master’s classes, and into the classroom” after she graduates.
MSJ’s nursing program is going to be celebrating Packer this coming May, as she graduates with a bachelor’s in nursing! She’s always wanted to be a nurse, but the type of nurse she wanted to be did change throughout the years. Once she graduates, she is going to be working in the PICU (Pediatric ICU) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
After she graduates she is “very excited about summer because I have so many fun events happening, and I’m hoping to travel more before I start the PICU in July.” Once you graduate, you can still have fun and experience life, and she is proof of that! Her favorite memory at the Mount is “meeting some of the best people who I get to call my friends, I have created lifelong friendships and memories with.”
Browning is graduating this May with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and special education. She plans to work in a school with students who have high needs exceptionalities. She originally thought she would want to work with early elementary students, but as she completed her practicums and student teaching, she fell in love with the older grades, and really sees herself in that area. She says her favorite memory at the Mount “cannot be pinpointed to one, but I think all the opportunities I got do with all of my friends like dinner nights, movie parties, Mexican, and football games.” She is looking forward to “starting my dream job and help students the way I have always hoped to.
Lastly, these seniors wanted to leave those entering college or in their first year of college, with some pieces of advice. Damewood says to “take advantage of resources and help that is offered to you, and don’t be afraid to ask for help/” Hirt says, “Relax, it’s all going to work out eventually!” Packer advises “Truly believe in yourself, and remember that life isn’t that serious! We all make mistakes and in the end they help us grow into stronger and brighter people in this world.” Lastly, Browning says, “Find your people and use your resources! College is your trial time of being an adult. Legally you are one; however in college you have so much support and help around you, so have fun but also take advantage and tap into the help that is being offered to you now.”
Wow, I feel so inspired after hearing about these ladies' hopes, dreams, and aspirations and how they have lived them out! Four years goes by fast, and though you may be wishing it went faster as we approach the last few weeks of spring semester, just now that these are the days you once prayed for, and you’ll one day be wishing it wasn’t over quite yet! Congratulations to all the seniors graduating this May, and I wish you the best of luck on all your future endeavors. You’re going to do great!