steps.

Here's a thought... what would our college systems look like if high schools better prepared their students for higher education? It turns out that a lot of college students have no idea what they want to do with their life, thereby changing their major more than a few times, thereby taking 6 years to graduate college and still not knowing what on earth they just learned. When they finally graduate they've realized that what they studied isn't what they wanted to do at all, and aren't qualified to do anything in the job market except lick stamps.

It's a big discovery as I've moved to Wheaton and searched the job market. I am just discovering what I really want to contribute to the world, what I really want to do with my life, and I seem unqualified. I have some great internship experience, but I learned more about how to care for people while working at Hume Lake for 3 summers that I did while taking major classes at school. That's what I want to do... help people. Love them. Care for them and put their well being above my own. And now that I have graduated, most of the jobs I have found require a couple of years of experience... experience that I don't have because I just graduated. It's seems like a giant catch-22.

I am at a loss because I go between two ways of thinking... first, I realize I never should have wasted so much money on University and should have taken a year off from high school to figure out what I want to do, and then go to some sort of career or trade school to become qualified/certified for a real-life job. But then I realize that I made some great friends and met my husband there, so I can't really say that I regret it. It's such a strange place to be in. My desire to be a journalist has faded since I realized how unfair and unbalanced the field of journalism has become, and my photography skills have become for my own enjoyment. My desire to help others has a different package.

So I guess I've decided that high schools need to better prepare their students and encourage them to find out what they really love to do in life, instead of settling on something that sounds okay at the time. I think the job market would look all the better for it.

(And a shout out to everyone who has Hume Lake set up as a google alert. I miss you guys!)