Blog Post 1: TRAIN Mixer

Howdy y'all,

I hope everyone has been having a good start to their semester, I know I've been enjoying the peace and calm before things really start picking up. 

Speaking of starts, it was really interesting seeing the new batch of TRAIN scholars that West will be getting soon, and it really made me consider my own struggles through my journey here. See, when I talked to the student there were different takes as to what they wanted out of college, but there was one common thread. Everyone asked, "What do I do once I leave here?". I spoke truthfully when chatting with them and admitted that I, and a lot of folks, really don't know. I, like many other current ASU-West TRAIN scholars, have found the internship market to be pretty brutal. Nonnegotiable unpaid onboarding to work only being adjacently related to our field, things feel pretty slim just for the internship portion. Compound this with the eventual need for full employment, and things feel a bit daunting for many of us.

A funny conversation even started at our table regarding our doubts about our career paths, in which many of us even admitted having backup professions in mind (most commonly education [me included]). So with all this, I do have to wonder what is it all for? On one hand, I do appreciate my uncertainty cause it made me feel like I could reassure students that they had time to work it all out, but at the same time, I still feel like I need to address my own apprehensions. It really is tricky.

Fingers crossed that I can find that to only be a footnote in my growth, but I would love to hear if any of y'all have felt similar to this at all!