As my time as an undergraduate student is coming to a close, I am naturally thinking back on everything I have done and my ears are ringing from all the questions about my experiences in college. I wish I had some incredibly unique and helpful advice I could offer everyone else entering or continuing their undergraduate education, but I can only say this: take advantage of your time in college and of everything it has to offer.
Anyone who knows me would tell you that I am constantly busy—perhaps more busy than I should be—but looking back on my time at Drew, I can say that it has helped me professionally. But, even more importantly, I can not think of a single thing I wanted to do in college that I did not do.
While I was involved in clubs and activities in high school, I wanted to push myself further in college—and I am so thankful that I did. As of writing this, I am exiting my position as editor-in-chief of the Acorn and have already left behind my position as News Section Editor and as Vice President of the Bookworms, Drew’s book club. These positions connected me to Drew’s community and forced me out of my comfort zone in so many ways.
I can confidently say that by getting engaged in different aspects of on-campus student life, I grew as a leader, communicator and person in ways I did not think possible. By taking this time to jump into new things and being willing to fail before I succeeded, I became the best version of myself.
These experiences led me to gaining so much practical knowledge and experience and also making amazing friendships and connections along the way. Through what now seem like butterfly effects—saying yes to something small like lunch after class and so many things snowballing until I found myself in absurd scenarios—I have made incredible friendships with people that I would have never met without what now feels like a little bit of divine intervention.
At the same time I was trying new things outside of school, I pushed myself as far as I could academically. I chose to double major in marketing and media and communications and picked up a minor in Spanish along the way. Even though this meant that during most semesters I had to take five classes, I’m so happy I chose this path.
While I took classes that covered a broad spectrum of topics and spanned across many departments, I feel as though I took advantage of perhaps the only time I will have unfettered access to so many knowledgeable professors.
Even more so, I let those professors guide me throughout my time here. Using my time in college as a time to explore fields and classes, I learned what I liked and what I definitely did not, so I could graduate with a set career plan—even though it was completely different than what I thought it would be.
In maybe the craziest example of taking advantage of the resources available to me in college, I switched my career path in my last months of junior year. While that part is not all that crazy, since college is the time to test the waters and people change career paths all the time, I took it a step further. I decided to switch career paths over the course of eight hours.
Looking back, this was a decision I had made little by little over the course of years, but in the moment, it felt sudden and scary, and I have never been so happy that I spent all of college preparing for scary moments, so I could make the right decision that day.
A little context for the people who do not know me: ever since middle school I knew I wanted to write for print news. I looked at colleges with great communications programs, took every journalism course at Drew and by my junior year, I was working for local newspapers and training for my current role at the Acorn.
Then I took a class in organizational ethics, and piece by piece my career path, which already felt so set in stone, started fracturing as I found another passion within a niche field of psychology. So by the time Professor Alexander de Voogt offhand asked which graduate schools I was planning to apply to, my decision was already made, even though I did not know it yet. Over the next eight hours—and many calls with my father, who has changed careers and industries at least five times that I know of—I decided to change what I wanted to do with my life.
Now, a year later, I am so happy with the decision I made. I am attending the top graduate school for industrial-organizational psychology, my honors thesis in the field was just passed without revisions and I’ve been recognized through so many awards here at Drew. Despite changing everything, I am in an amazing place right now. Even if I did not change anything, I would have been in a comparable position in another career, as I already turned down a full-time job in news writing.
But none of this would have been possible if I had not expanded my horizons and took advantage of the opportunities around me. Without taking classes in other departments, I would have never found the field I am now entering and, without taking advantage of so many opportunities in and out of the classroom, I never would have gotten experience in both psychology and journalism.
So, learn from me, and use this time to try the things you have always wanted to do. Go to that club meeting or take a class in an unrelated subject or even just try a chocolate milkshake instead of vanilla—just do it all while you can, before things get too serious and professional.
This is not to say you should say yes to everything and do more than you can handle, but I think you should push yourself out of your comfort zone. This is your time to try new things, to exit the nest and dare to fly, because right now is one of the last times in life that someone will be down below to catch you if you fall.
So go for it, take advantage of every opportunity and resource around you, meet new people and try things you have always wanted to. Use this time to learn to fly, so that when graduation comes you can soar to new heights.
Sierra Walker is a senior majoring in marketing and media and communication and minoring in Spanish.
