Never Too Late

Can you tell me a little bit about how you got to where you are today?

 

Yes, so I work in student affairs or student life here at Michigan. How I got here specifically I guess I would say I’m in this field because I really grew up on a college campus. So when I was younger, my dad was doing his PhD pretty much throughout when I was growing up because it’s in the sciences so he was always doing research, so we spent a lot of time on college campuses and that’s just how I kind of always associated my life. We went to football games and baseball games and we were always doing stuff on campus and so even cultural programs, and my dad participated in some graduate student groups in the cultural center so I was always doing things. It kind of came naturally and then even as I got older and my dad was done with his PhD, he ended up working on University campuses himself so he’s in research again in the sciences so I would after school if I needed to be picked up in between things because my mom was at work that I would hang out around my dad’s lab. So I was the little kid roller-skating around the biology lab, which in retrospect would be absurd if I saw that on campus right like an 8 year old. I’ve always had an affinity towards it so when I went to college myself I had no plans of working in college, I started out as an engineering major and then I decided I really wanted to work with people and not like by myself with numbers and books, so I tried some different things and ended up eventually choosing to do something in community studies. My goal then was to work in nonprofits or something like that in the community.

 

Then I graduated and I was advising student government and then I ended up working in the development office at the University of Utah and I was like, I don’t like this. I was kind of burnt out working with students after advising and having been so involved and then I was like, I actually don’t like this and then I decided to go to grad school to do this work, to work with students on campus, like getting involved and their student experience. So, that’s kind of how I ended up here. How I ended up in the Midwest, so I was out in Utah, but after I graduated with my masters, because I got my bachelors and masters at the same school, I was just like I want something different. So, I ended up at the University of Toledo from graduation working in Greek Life and housing and then this opportunity came up at the University of Michigan and I really just liked Ann Arbor a lot, so I felt like it could be a better place for me to live, so that’s where I ended up here and doing this job.

 

 

Okay. Would you feel that you had some people that specifically really supported you either moving or changing your field or even people that didn’t support these big impacts going on in your life?

 

Yeah, I think a little bit of both. So I think that I definitely had mentors in college that really helped me to realize that you could do this as a career, even though I didn’t do that ultimately right when I graduated, I was like I’m not really sure, I feel burnt out, eventually after a year of advising. But really had a good support system to help me navigate my way back after I was like I don’t really want to work in development, that wasn’t really what I wanted but I wanted to work with students again. I think there were definitely mentors, one person in particular she was my internship mentor when I was a sophomore; she is still my mentor today. Some other advisors I had working with and supervisors. I really had the support of my family, which I think was nice., family and friends. As far as maybe people who weren’t as supportive I think there were definitely maybe some friends who were like are you sure you want to do that, do you really want to go back and be in college forever and even some of my family who doesn’t really understand what I do, there were like what, you don’t want to just work you know what people think a job is, like a 9 to 5 desk job. I think you’ll always have that, people who don’t really understand what you’re doing. Otherwise, I think I had a lot of really good support. 

 

 

Okay that’s great. Can you explain a little bit about how you feel towards what you do. Is this what you’ve always wanted, are you happy with what your day to day is like?

 

Yeah, so how I feel about it? I feel great. Like I said, it’s not what I always wanted to do, at least I don’t think so. I always wanted to go to college because like I said I grew up on a college campus, but as far as working here like this I don’t think it’s not what I picked when I was 5 years old. But, I love it. I think it’s really great. My schedule is never the same, which can sometimes not be good, but it can also be really fun in different ways too because we are doing late night programs or things on the weekends but it’s always something like a good event. It’s not like I’m being drudged in on the weekends, while I don’t love it, once I get here it’s great, if that makes sense. No one wants to work on weekends, but at the end of the day it’s a really fun program and I loved being here. I definitely love what I do and being able to watch students grow from the time they start working here in the office until they graduate or when they stop working in our office and especially when they come back to visit, I think that’s fun. 

 

 

Okay, would you say that there was a time that going after what you wanted to achieve became too difficult to get here, so a big challenge you might’ve faced?

 

I think moving was a really big challenge for me, but I knew that and my mentors and professors and people told me that unless you move and experience a different university it’s going to be really difficult to climb a ladder at one school versus being able to climb the ladder at one school to another school and maybe coming back to where you want to be. I think definitely that’s something that I thought a lot about and was a big challenge, just the courage to move across the country to somewhere I had never even been before other than interviewing there and knew really nobody in the whole town so I felt like that was really big for me. 

 

 

Okay, good example. You know, the people that are going to be listening to this are college seniors, so I would like to ask what kind of advice do you have for people who are currently in college and trying to navigate what they want to do with their future.

 

I think definitely not being afraid to do what you want to do. So, like I said I come from a very science family oriented so the fact that, one that I didn’t do a science major, like I ended up doing social science major was big. I think not being held back by what other people expect you to do because I think that can be really easy in college especially if you’re parents are helping to support you or you have other types of support, so not being afraid to chase after the things you want to do because it can be scary. I think also not doing what you think you should do, if that makes sense. Really doing what in your gut and your heart you want to do. So, for example that job that I took at the University of Toledo when I graduated I was like, I think I should do this, it would be good, but at the end of the day it wasn’t what I loved doing. It was parts of my job/career that I like but I love what I’m doing now which is really focused on programming and that aspect as opposed to when I was doing disciplinary, administrative kind of work, like keeping track of keys. That’s something I didn’t get a masters degree to do. So, I think definitely also not being afraid to make that career change, so when you get to a point when you’re like okay I’m in this job but I thought I loved it but I don’t really love it and just not being afraid one again in following your heart or your gut and making that move to do something else. So, that’s what I would tell people.

 

 

Okay, that’s great advice thank you!