One year ago I moved into my apartment in Medford. This
is somewhere I never planned on moving to and it was pretty scary at first, so
I told myself to give it one year and then answer three questions.
Are you where you’d like to be in your career?
No, nowhere near. However, I'm doing better than others at 24 and I have outlandishly high expectations for what I will accomplish. I remember writing down this
question and thinking of the grand things that would be coming my way in a year
and those were unrealistic in that time frame. I forgot to think about how long it takes to prove
yourself. How many phone calls I’d have to answer, Fedexs I’d have to send out
and office supply orders that would pass through my hands to prove to those
above me that I’m serious about starting a career in television.
It’s been tough. Honestly, the hardest year of my life but I
needed to learn that the real world isn’t like school. Not everyone is going to
bend over backwards to show you that you are doing a good job. You do a good
job because you get paid to, not for recognition. Obviously, there are times when
you help out a little more and people praise you, but for the most part you
just put in your time and then get your paycheck.
Do you regret school?
The short answer is no. The long answer is that there are so
many things I would change if I could. As a college student, you’re lied to.
Plain and simple. They say you’ll get out and with all your experiences, you’ll
start out with a decent wage and not at the bottom, but in my experience that
just wasn’t true. If it it was true for you- congrats.
I was a producer of a short film group for two years,
busting out around 15 short films during my time there, about 2-3 a term
depending on how long they were. Then I was the manager of the TV station on
campus. I oversaw a paid/volunteer staff of 23 people, organized events
surrounding involvement at the station, was a board member for 3 different groups discussing
allocation of funds for organizations on campus, how to be more inclusive and make
everyone feel welcome and other issues that would come up that demanded an
answer on how we would tackle it with a written plan.
After everything, I was still turned down a few times before
finally receiving an entry level front desk position at a TV station, and that was with a
stellar recommendation from a past employee and a couple more from other
college advisors.
Lots of expectation versus reality once you graduate but no,
I don’t regret school. I think my degree will come in handy some day and college holds some of the best memories with amazing people.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you?
This question seems silly now. Everyone has good days and
bad. Overall I’d say I’m at like a 7. I have my frustrations that I deal with
but I really do love the Rogue Valley. The community feel is great here and
people support each other whether it be personal or professional. Honestly,
it’s a great place to settle down with a family for the values they uphold. I
have great friends, my coworkers have accepted me like family and my career
will catch up to my goals eventually. I just need to put my time in.
Overall I’d say I’ve done pretty well. I have no idea what
the future holds but I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing because it’s
worked for me so far.
