Freshman year Britteny came to college fully prepared to become a journalist. She had been dead set on being a journalist since before freshman year of high school. She thought coming to Simpson College would give her that dream, and someday she would be running around the country telling the stories that needed telling. Little did freshman Britteny know…she was wrong.

Three and a half years have gone by, and while I still really enjoy writing and being involved in the newspaper, I really don’t see this as something I could do for the rest of my life. And that’s OK.

Now, as I am in my last semester and am finishing my multimedia communications and theatre arts double major, I’m thinking of how my skills will make me a viable candidate for the job market. Marketing for an arts organization? Possibly. I may need to start in one place and work my way to find the job I want to do for the rest of my life. And I repeat, that’s OK.

I know I’m not the only one leaving school with the same major they worked on for so long and not going in to what they always thought they wanted to. Heck, my roommate is an English major with a Secondary Education minor, and she isn’t even considering teaching at all anymore. But she does know that her secondary education minor has equipped her with the skills to better work with kids, which she knows she will do in some capacity.

Even if you don’t go in to exactly what you thought you would with your major, you are gaining valuable skills at Simpson that will make you more marketable for wherever your job hunt leads you.

This is why a liberal arts education is SO important. You aren’t just getting the skills you need for the job you think you want, but you are getting skills from other majors and minors and departments as you go. These make you marketable. And eventually, they could be the reason you are the right fit over someone else for that job you applied for.

I may be lost in a sea of opportunities, and I may be just as nervous about getting a job as everyone else, but I know there are so many jobs in which I can use the skills I’ve gained over the years. And if I don’t like a particular job, then I don’t need to stick with it, and I can keep searching.

You don’t have to stick to one thing. You are never committed for life. Just go out, be open and try what you can. We can swim this sea together and make the most of it.