On a perfect Earth, my advice to soon-to-be graduates would be this: “follow your dreams – no matter how big or how small – and turn those dreams into a reality.”
Well, as you probably have come to find out, the Earth we are on is not very perfect. Unfortunately, life is set up so that it’s not always possible to obtain your dream job 🙁
But this DOES NOT mean, my fellow somewhere-between-kids-and-adults, it is impossible to find an immense amount of satisfaction in whatever path you pursue.
Choosing a career pathway that genuinely matters to you will pay off far more than any check earned from a pathway that genuinely does not matter to you ever could.
So yeah, find something that really matters to you, and pursue it. You will never be the best at something you hate. I worked hard in every science class I ever took, but I don’t think I will ever care that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, or that water is actually made up of two H’s and one O. Maybe life as a chemist isn’t for me.
Only you know what you believe in deep down; only you know what you actually care about. So, listen to yourself, and restlessly follow what matters to you.
If you are passionate about something, but you’re not sure if it’s for you, now is the time to at least try it out to some extent.
And hey, if you give it a whirl but could still never see yourself doing it for the rest of your life, then don’t do it. But at least then you can feel comfort in knowing that you gave it a full go, and that’s what matters.
Emerging Clarkstonians, I am not a career expert by any means, but just like you I am starting my journey into the adult world, and I want to make sure that I never lose sight of who I know I am, and who I know I can become.
All in all, my advice to you would be to use this unique, exciting time in your life to work as hard as you can to discover and begin to pursue what really matters to you.
Jack Kuczmanski, a freshman at the University of Michigan and 2016 graduate of Clarkston High School, is interning at The Clarkston News this summer.