For people of my parent’s generation, college degrees equal money and power. Don’t get me wrong, acquiring both of those things would be lovely. But that isn’t the reason that I’ve committed myself to spend every other Saturday for the next two years of my life in a room with the same group of people. I did it to show myself that I can.
I love to learn but school has always been a struggle for me. Failing to get my degree has always been a matter of pride and a personal struggle rather than a professional one. Yes, I did notice how difficult it was in 2018 to get to the next round while unemployed and looking for a job. But I’ve always had a knack for proving to potential employers that I’m worth the risk and pulled it off once again. So yes, it will be nice to clear that hurdle effortlessly in the future. But what I’ll take the most joy out of when I cross that stage is the fact that I decided to do something FOR ME and followed through. I’m happy to give my time, attention, and other resources to help others. I have a high failure rate in doing the same for myself. To set a personal goal and achieve it, going through all the tough times and the stress, coming out triumphant will help repair a big wound in how I see myself.
I also expect that it will do great things for my self-esteem in work situations. My fake it ‘til you make it muscles has grown very strong from constant use. It would be nice to not fake, but intrinsically know.I’m a big fan of the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know” because I don’t. I don’t know if the skills I feel weakest at are taught as part of a degree. I don’t know if the lingo being tossed around is something common amongst graduates. I don’t know if there is a key concept that would make the business strategy more effective that I didn’t learn in a 101 class. So, I’m excited to fill the gaps of my knowledge or to discover that there is no secret behind some things just an instinct acquired after years of working in an industry.
I may not aspire to a fat bank account or world domination; however, I do have a dream that I’d love for the program to help me turn into a reality. My dream job is to get into a local arts organization like a Goodman Theatre or the Art Institute at a leadership level. I want to change the narrative around women, people of color, and queerness. We logically know that each of these groups existed before now but act as if all trace of them has always been invisible until the modern-day. That is just not the case. I want to put large amounts of resources towards rediscovering these stories and making them part of the normal background of our cultural education. My hope is that one day, these stories will be old hat to students, a normal and boring part of their education. What they won’t know is how dynamically that would change the world. So, I guess I do want world domination after all.
MarketingMichelle 