Hello to all you blog readers! Bonjour! Guten Tag! Jambo! Konnichiwa! Aloha and Kalimera! It realize that it has been a while since I sat down and wrote a blog--for that, my deepest and most sincere apologies. It's not that I haven't meant to write...it's just, well, I'm having trouble commiting to one specific topic. I sit sometimes, staring at the computer for what feels like hours, starting topic after topic and never finishing one. Making decisions can be really difficult sometimes, especially for someone like me. I like to start new projects all the time...the only trouble is staying focused on one specfic thing. Its so easy to float from project to project, topic to topic, plan to plan--but then all you really have at the end of the day are few half-finished projects, blogs, or degree plans....
So you probably guessed by now that I'm not really talking about being indecisive with blog topics exclusivley. Thats right, folks....I'm having trouble with my degree plan. But I'm not too stressed about it. In some ways, I guess I should be. I never really had a clear answer to that question I'm sure we've all been asked in our lives: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I've wanted to be a lot of things...Clown, Ballerina, Judge, Princess Spy, Farmer, Fortune Teller, Fire Dancer, Rythmic Gymnast, Environmentalist, Aquarist, Journalist, Flight Attendant, and the list goes on. Most of these things I've wanted to be in the last few weeks alone. So maybe I should be stressed, right? If I can't even finish a blog, how can I expect to choose a MAJOR?
This, my friends, is the part of the blog where one would expalin to you the *key* to managing their hectic life, focusing their interests, and sitting down and creating a plan for oneself. Sorry to dissappoint, but I don't have the key. What I do have, however, is a network of support at Prescott College. Just the other day I had a minor freakout when a class I was planning on taking in the fall had to be rescheduled. WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO???? My degree plan needs to be finished by next semester if I want to graduate on time...... Fortunatley for me, the people who work at Prescott College are INCREDIBLE.
I headed over to the registrar's office to try to get myself into another class. I was met with the friendly ladies in the registrar's office who sat me down and guided me through which classes were still open and which worked with my schedule. After writing down a few course titles, I ran off to the advising center and had a long chat with Heather Knowles (who runs the Advising Center) about planning out a schedule that could work for my degree plan. The only problem was, I hadn't finished writing out my degree plan...i hadn't even fully committed to my competence. We sat down and talked for a bit: What kinds of things are you interested in? What kind of job might you like to have? These were questions I had asked myself before. Though I still didn't have a clear answer, we were able to start a dialogue about all the different things I was thinking about so far. I was interested in all sorts of things but I didn't know how they could fit together. I was interested in Cultural/Regional Studies, Environmental Issues, Conservation Projects, Ecotourism, Marine Biology, and the relationships between organisms and their environment. How could I ever mesh all those things into one competence? I could imagine myself one day working for an eco-tourism company of some sort teaching others about environmental issues, the natural history of certain species, or the impact humans have on the area. Thats when we began to get an idea of what I should be studying...
Though I had orisinally planned on a more generic "Natural History and Ecology" competence, it seemed to Heather Knowles (and soon, myself) that I was describing more of a career in "Environmental Education". I really hadn't even thought about that. Education classes seemed so far off from what I wanted to study--it never really seemed like something that I might want to combine with my other areas of study. Looking back, it seems like a natural course of action. Education and Environmental Studies are so clearly related that I am almost kicking myself for not realizing it sooner. I was so focused on CHOOSING a competence, that I hardly considered CREATING one unique to myself...and that was one of the primary reasons I came to Prescott College in the first place.
So, I'm testing the waters. I think that's important. making a commitment to a specific major isn't something you should enter into lightly. So far, this one feels right. It may sound kinda cheesy, but Prescott College is really awesome that way. If you play around in the areas that fascinate you, your competence has a way of finding you. I'm glad I chose this school. If I had picked another school, I'd barely be finished with my General Requirements and I wouldn't even have had an opportunity to figure out what I'm passionate about. I'm two years in at PC and I've been dipping my toes into every possible area of study. Maybe I haven't made a solid decision yet. But I have time to figure it out...and with the resources a school like Prescott College offers, I know it will be an adventure the whole way.
Erratically Yours, Sydnie.
