The Post-Grad Journey: I’m Officially a Post-Grad

By Charlsie Niemiec

I did it! I graduated. Although the moment of hearing my name, walking across the stage, receiving my diploma, and turning my tassel went by incredibly fast, the road to Commencement has been an unforgettable eye-opening four-year journey.

It’s been made up of classes I’ve loved (like Arab-American literature) and those I’ve hated (Computers 100, I’m talking to you and your Microsoft Word projects). There were those endless papers analyzing literary theorists, ethical dilemmas, Shakespeare’s couplets, and acts of radical feminism. I worked on and cried over hundreds of math problems and graphs, all while reading books that would forever change me and the ways I think about the world around me. I wrote and edited poem after poem for numerous workshop classes, while expanding my poetry vocabulary from e.e. cummings and Emily Dickinson’s collections to the voices of Lorine Niedecker and Naomi Shihab Nye. All these academic experiences led me to learn things I would have never known if I strayed off on a different path.

Outside of school, I interned – a lot. There were the internships I learned a lot at, and the ones that failed to utilize their internship programs to the full extent. There were the people in the business world I met that I admire and respected, and then there were the ones that made me promise myself “I will never end up like that.” I traveled, whether it was from the Upper East Side to SoHo in New York City or from London to Paris for a weekend. Honestly, I even spent most of my time in college traveling to and from other colleges around me (this was part of my college’s campus culture – especially at such a small all women’s college), which convinced me that a two hour car ride is nothing but a quick ride down the road.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking … why the hell is this girl telling us all this stuff? Why should I care about what she’s done?

Well, my point is that when I arrived on campus for the first time in August 2006, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know where I would go or who I would become, and I was scared. However, through my trepidation, I kept thinking about Dr. Seuss and his whole, “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” mantra. I couldn’t wait to see what would come my way, and I couldn’t wait to dive in head-first with the adventure that was about to start.

I don’t see why my post-grad life or anyone else’s should be anything less than excitement filled and hopeful, even if jobs aren’t available or graduate school dreams have changed. Just because the safety of undergrad isn’t there anymore doesn’t mean I can’t look forward to the things I’ll do, the places I’ll travel, and the people I’ll meet – everything that will become a part of my life towards achieving my future goals.

So, with graduation out of the way and a goodbye to a university that I felt incredibly ambivalent about, it’s time to start a new journey. Even though my family won’t be dropping me off at a dorm room for the next upcoming adventure in my life, I still have plenty to look forward to – and I can’t wait to see where my ship will sail next.