importance of community

importance of community

     As an English major, the future can be an extremely daunting thing to think about. Unlike other majors, there is no set path for the English major, no universal metaphorical ladder system that we continue to climb up. For English majors, there is no right or wrong when it comes to a career path. For some, this can be comforting. For me, it is anything but.

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     Other majors have an education track and career trajectory is fairly straightforward. The job market for STEM and business majors is very stable and easily accessible. These majors also lead to careers with financial security. For English and Humanities majors, our path is much more convoluted and usually personally tailored. We get a lot of freedom to choose in our career paths. This freedom, while it is a privilege and benefit of the major, can also be extremely paralyzing as it sometimes feels like there are too many options to choose from. While my future and career may feel uncertain at this point in time, one thing I am certain about is my need for a community and a network that will support me.

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     Throughout college, I have prided myself on my ability to make friends with people from diverse backgrounds with varying interests. College has widened my horizons and led me to meet a variety of different people across different majors. However, while I love my family and friends and feel supported by them, I have never felt truly understood by most of the people in my life.

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     In grade school, I felt isolated from my peers at times. I was always extremely academic which made me feel like I never really fit in. The few close friends that I have made I have have never shared the same interests I have had. As I was preparing to graduate high school, I was

hopeful to make new friends in college and find a community of people with similar interests to me. I was excited to join the English major and make connections with students studying the same thing as me.

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     During college I made some of the best friends that I have ever had. I had many friends who were studying different things and had different interests. I appreciate them for giving me diverse perspectives throughout college. But I couldn't help but feel unsupported and misunderstood, because none of these friends happened to be studying the same things as me. My friends in STEM were applying to internships and doing lab work together and my friends who were business majors were applying to jobs every week. I was alone as an English major. I never thought about, or did any sort of preparation for my future. I didn’t even know where to begin, and I had no one that I could talk to or ask questions to.

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     I realized that I had a very strong community of friends, however, what my life was missing was a community in the educational and work field. Community is a very important aspect of college, and later career life. While I have a strong community of friends who support me, I realize that it is conducive to my academic and career development to find people who share the same interests and motives as me. I started making changes in my life that would broaden my community in and around the English major.

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     Last summer I decided to study abroad in Oxford, England. I traveled with the UMass Oxford Summer Seminar program. The program was tailored towards Humanities and English majors. I met people in my major that I never have before, and I got to take more rigorous courses about subjects I am passionate about. I was also exposed to an environment in Oxford that prioritizes academia, and appreciates the importance of literature.

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     Even though my time at college is almost over, I have appreciated creating more friendships and broadening my network in the English Department and College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

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     At the beginning of this school year, I also applied for a job as an administrative assistant in the English Department. In this job, I assist with data collection and office duties for the department. However, one unexpected benefit of the job is that it has helped me to create more of a community for myself in the department. I have assisted with faculty events, and I have been able to reconnect with some of my old professors and talk to ones I have never had for a class. Working in different events within the department has connected me with graduate students and professors who can offer me great insight and advice for my future career.

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     I am also a student in the Classics major, and I have recently received the role as the department’s Latin Language Ambassador. For this role, I have tutored students and talked to prospective students about the major. It has helped me to build a community in the major and reflect on why it is important to me. I have also attended events such as the HFA career event in which I have begun to think more seriously about how I see my majors applying to a real world career.

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     As I prepare to finish up college, and start my life after school. I realize the importance of building a community of like-minded individuals with the same interests as me. The communities I have worked to build recently within my major and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts is something that I need to hold onto as I prepare to graduate.

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     Most of my friends who are graduating with me in the Spring already have jobs lined up, or they at least know exactly what job they want and have a plan on how to get it. As my roommate often tells me, it is different for students in Isenburg, that I am exactly where I need to

be as an English major. But sometimes I can’t help but think that this advice would make me feel better coming from a fellow English major.

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     And as I approach the end of college, I have become more aware of issues such as finances, and buying a home in the future, and trying to survive in the modern day economy. Whether they mean to or not, my friends make me feel pressured to find a job that will pay well.

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     But that's never been what I have wanted, and in the midst of feeling like I need to prove myself to others, I have to remind myself that even moreso, I owe it to myself to prove myself to me. I need to live my life the way that I have always wanted to live it.

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     I want to go out into the world, with my English degree, find various jobs being a writer, explore writing, and explore the things that I am interested in. I believe, and I have always believed that it is most important to discover yourself as a person, before you can decide for sure on a career. It may be unconventional, but I do not see myself being able to do a 9 to 5 office job that I hate for the rest of my life. I want to have creative, flexible jobs in fields that I am interested in and that will give me time to explore other hobbies in my personal life as well.