IN A few months time, a fresh batch of ardent, idealistic high school graduates will be entering the portals of universities. The new environment would probably appear intimidating to these young ones. Yet at the same time, it would be promising and exciting as these schools would be their second homes for the next four years or so before they would finally be out in what we call the ‘real’ world.
The past week gave me the opportunity to mingle once again with various groups of fourth year students during a Career Guidance program that the University annually conducts among high schools in neighboring provinces of the city. The experience made me recall what it had been like for me years ago when I was the one sitting in one of those desks. I honestly didn’t care what those numerous Career Guidance counselors were saying. It was all gibberish to me. All I wanted was to make it through a good university, finish a degree, find me a decent job and live with the majority’s motto: “Be a successful somebody someday”.
The past week gave me the opportunity to mingle once again with various groups of fourth year students during a Career Guidance program that the University annually conducts among high schools in neighboring provinces of the city. The experience made me recall what it had been like for me years ago when I was the one sitting in one of those desks. I honestly didn’t care what those numerous Career Guidance counselors were saying. It was all gibberish to me. All I wanted was to make it through a good university, finish a degree, find me a decent job and live with the majority’s motto: “Be a successful somebody someday”.
I even remember the method I used in deciding what course to enroll in. I ran my finger down that long list of degrees while mouthing them and stopped when I came to that course that ‘sounded good’. I know eh. Very rational.
I never thought that someday, I would be doing the same thing—be that person telling these students that they have that big future ahead of them, as long as they make the right choices. It can be truly challenging. Because more than trying to promote the school as an attractive option for their next academic level, was attempting to understand what could possibly be running through the heads of these divergent groups. You could immediately identify those gung ho individuals who hang onto your every word, eager to find out more about opportunities that you are introducing. There are those uninterested students, the kind who evidently don’t care about what you’re talking about because graduating from high school is more than enough already.
Then there are the resigned ones, they listen keenly but you can somehow feel that they’re dubious about the possibility of being able to enter college at all. Different students with diverse outlooks about how to go on with their future because of likewise varying reasons that would affect their next courses of action after graduating from high school. In a matter of minutes, you show to them their options, enumerate to them attractive alternatives that could help them with their college schooling, and shed a bit of light about what to expect during college life. You’ll know during those very same moments if you were able to connect with them in one way or another—if you were at least able to help them consider and eventually make sound decisions when they go to college.
At the end of the day, you have that certain fulfillment when you know you somehow made a mark in someone’s mind. That perhaps a statement or two of what you shared was or were inculcated in the minds of at least one or more of those hundreds of students that you were able to talk to. That in your own little way, you were able to enlighten them on the pertinent factors that they have to consider when trudging that seemingly ominous walls of universities.
Deciding what career path to take is not a game of mini-mini-mayni-mo (as this naïve girl I know very well did years ago, ahem). Choosing a career is an involved process that requires ample time for contemplation. It is a multi-process step that involves considerable self-assessment and evaluation of the probable occupations you are taking into account in order to make that fateful, informed decision. Hopefully, that day’s work for us spelled a lifetime’s choice for those we shared our time with.
I never thought that someday, I would be doing the same thing—be that person telling these students that they have that big future ahead of them, as long as they make the right choices. It can be truly challenging. Because more than trying to promote the school as an attractive option for their next academic level, was attempting to understand what could possibly be running through the heads of these divergent groups. You could immediately identify those gung ho individuals who hang onto your every word, eager to find out more about opportunities that you are introducing. There are those uninterested students, the kind who evidently don’t care about what you’re talking about because graduating from high school is more than enough already.
Then there are the resigned ones, they listen keenly but you can somehow feel that they’re dubious about the possibility of being able to enter college at all. Different students with diverse outlooks about how to go on with their future because of likewise varying reasons that would affect their next courses of action after graduating from high school. In a matter of minutes, you show to them their options, enumerate to them attractive alternatives that could help them with their college schooling, and shed a bit of light about what to expect during college life. You’ll know during those very same moments if you were able to connect with them in one way or another—if you were at least able to help them consider and eventually make sound decisions when they go to college.
At the end of the day, you have that certain fulfillment when you know you somehow made a mark in someone’s mind. That perhaps a statement or two of what you shared was or were inculcated in the minds of at least one or more of those hundreds of students that you were able to talk to. That in your own little way, you were able to enlighten them on the pertinent factors that they have to consider when trudging that seemingly ominous walls of universities.
Deciding what career path to take is not a game of mini-mini-mayni-mo (as this naïve girl I know very well did years ago, ahem). Choosing a career is an involved process that requires ample time for contemplation. It is a multi-process step that involves considerable self-assessment and evaluation of the probable occupations you are taking into account in order to make that fateful, informed decision. Hopefully, that day’s work for us spelled a lifetime’s choice for those we shared our time with.