Career

As a student in the University Exploration major (i.e. undecided), the search for a major and a potential career is not new to me in any way shape or form. Based on this past ENR Scholars seminar discussion about careers, I would be categorized in the “self-assessment” phase of the career exploration process. My RIASEC score was Artistic, then tied between Social and Realistic. According to the O*Net database, the most promising careers based on this score are: Park Naturalist, Theatrical Makeup Artist, Dancer, Sociologist, Counseling Psychologist, Mental Health Counselor, Forest Firefighter, Animal Control Worker, and Library Assistant. In some ways, these options fit my interests, and in some ways they just made the process more cloudy and confusing. Right now, I am working on a Spanish minor, but am going back and forth about a major. Hopefully, the plan is to double major in Theatre with a specialization in Stage Management and something environmental: either Environmental Policy and Decision Making; Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife; and Geography with a specialization in Environment and Society. This matches up with the suggested careers with the exceptions of Library Assistant, Counseling Psychologist, Mental Health Counselor, and Dancer. However, mental illness has impacted my life greatly, so the idea of becoming a counselor is not new to me, and I have a love for stories that I could see myself pursuing. Those are things that I am certain that I want to be in my future, but I really don’t know if taking the professional path for those interests is the best use of my abilities and talents. Dancing is just plain out of the question. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist so I could work with animals in the ocean, especially sharks, squids, whales, and, of course, dolphins. To this day, I still want animals to play a large part in my life, I just don’t know if that’ll be a part of my profession or another aspect of my life. My biophilia has poured over into the environmental protection aspect of the issue; I even wrote a year-long research paper last year considering the viability of assisted translocation as a conservation method. But all that being said, theatre has had a lasting impact on my life. I started four years ago with being on running crew for the spring musical, and only a few months later, I was stage managing my first production. Since then, I have assistant managed one show and stage managed six productions, including three musicals. In order to explore my seemingly opposite interests, I will be assistant stage managing in the springtime for the Department of Theatre’s interpretation of 7 Ways to Say I Love You and I am taking Biology 1113 and Communicating Environmental and Natural Resources Information to fill my 2nd writing course requirement. I’m hoping to have a better idea of what I’d like to major in specifically upon completion of those courses and the remainder of my general education requirements. As I am in Exploration and have done many of the self-analyzing activities prior to the seminar, I didn’t feel that I learned anything new about myself that I didn’t already know, but it was a nice reminder of the campus resources about how to utilize information such as the RIASEC code in determining good fits for a major. I have found that there are limitations for what the school can do to help me make these decisions — I have to go out and find what I’m looking for myself. No number of workshops, seminars, or survey classes can amount to me seeking out my own experiences. I’ve done this by joining the Season Selection Committee for the theatre and continuing to participate in the ENR Scholars program. I’ve also volunteered with NextGen Climate and have attended production meetings for 7 Ways to Say I Love You. For now, my plan is to simply be patient and decide what I enjoy as the experiences that I’ve planned for come to me. Since I don’t really have a career path or plan, I think patience is the best approach I could take to this.