Don’t stay stuck in a degree

The time of the year is here! People are regretting spending so much money on textbooks and starting to freak out about tough professors teaching their classes. I have overheard one person asking in a rather enthusiastic tone if the test that one professor had created was going to make his students cry. The professor answered with an even more enthusiastic, “Yes.” And I was four steps from his office, about to ask about a math function that was on that very test.

Needless to say I was rattled, but I had to laugh at the same time. I was more humored because I had studied vigorously the night before, so I wasn’t necessarily too worried. Well, I might have had a slightly heavier chest that normal.

Now, if you place a freshman in that position, I wouldn’t be surprised to turn the corner and see them shaking like a leaf. I can only imagine some of the science professors in the same position and how a new life science major would feel. I can honestly say that I would probably fake an illness to skip the test. But this brings me to my point, a moment that I like to call “The Freshman Freakout.”

I have been one of the “Eagle Leaders,” and I have gotten the privilege to help out freshmen who are trying to blaze their own trail in life. I am fortunate enough to have found my niche as a Physical Science major, while others are feeling as though they are trapping themselves down one avenue of life. Maybe the idea about what they wanted to do wasn’t exactly right. They begin to break into a cold sweat, and they imagine the next thirty years of their life doing something that they do not want to be a part of. Meanwhile, I’m staring at them, wishing I had popcorn (which, thankfully, the Math and Science building has thanks to RHOP).

I watch them mentally implode until I finally think they have enough and then I sit next to them to calm them down.

I’m a Physics major so I am usually paired up with other physical science majors, which probably should be called the Titanic of Chadron State. Everyone gets on board and then starts bailing for fear of drowning in a career that they didn’t want.

On average, a student is likely to change their major three times. I am above average as I have changed my degree from Biomedical Engineering, to Computer Science, to Psychology, to History, to English, and finally to Physics in my junior year of college. It is never too late to change your interest in studying.

Would you rather have to take an extra year of classes or spend years regretting the fact you didn’t choose something that you loved?

Your degree does not necessarily dictate what you are going to be in life. Look at what truly interests you. I was told when I was young that the first thing in life to do is to find out what you love. The second is to find someone that will pay you for it. What do you love? What have you always wanted to do? Don’t think about wages, but think about what drives you. What magazines do you have subscriptions to that others don’t?

Once you find that information, then you need to find your path to get there. If you see something that is blocking you, remove it. It’s that simple.

If you have to move someplace else, then do it. You will meet people here that will change your life. Guaranteed. So use your resources you have available. If you don’t see yourself here, then do what a very intelligent man once wrote in this paper. Leave.

Your life isn’t defined by the degree that you get, but the decisions that you make. So, make a goal, find your path, and go. You have your entire life ahead of you and don’t take that for granted. Good luck and if you need advice for your future, you came to the right place, for this college isn’t defined by the buildings and classes.

It’s defined by the people, and Chadron State has some truly terrific people.