Greetings from the College Girl/Music Freak

Hello! This is my first time on this kind of website and it's after 11pm in my home in Maryland, so bare with me.

I have several great ideas for my future. I love to write, as you might tell by why I signed up for this. I heard about this at the last minute after an important Student Government meeting at my community college when I decided to log in to my Fastweb account and see what scholarships I would like to consider. I visited the website and I thought about how not only will this help me pay for my college tuition at Towson University, but perhaps help my writing a little more.

Since I was five years old, I wanted to be a veterinarian because I loved animals and they had excellent salaries. I used to play "Dr. Rachel" with my stuffed animals when I was that young. Unfortunately by the time I completed a year and a half at CCBC Essex, I realized I didn't have the math grades. I had a C average in Precalculus and College Algebra. So I said, "You know what? Forget it."

I decided to write passionately, even from a leadership perspective. I wrote poetry and song lyrics when I felt anxious, sad, or 'in the mood'. And for Student Government, I submitted two articles into the campus newspaper The Montage, which I might post in this blog. I've written about Student Advocacy Day in Maryland, a trip for community college students to go to Annapolis to meet with state legislators and support more funding into our schools. For all three campuses at CCBC (Catonsville, Essex, Dundalk), we were supporting Governor O'Malley's proposal for $80 million for rennovating Catonsville's old library and a $1 million increase in the budget formula. It was a success and the Delegates and Senators were delighted to have us visit their offices and a board room for lunch to chat about our future plans and what we had been doing at college thus far.

On the other hand, I'm an undecided major. I have no idea what career I want. I'm 19 and I'm not sure where I want to go. I could go in different directions. I love my Journalism class since I'm so eager to learning about new things every day. I want to write stories on politics, current events, music, and entertainment. However, journalists aren't paid that much. Perhaps I could become a court reporter. Investigating a case or just attending a meeting sounds like a mystery or adventure. I heard in an artlicle on MSN that being a court reporter gets paid an average of about $59,000 a year and uses writing in the job description.

Who knows? Perhaps I would publish some of my fictional stories and some poetry I've written. I might even post my poetry on here as well along with articles I've written for The Montage. I'm currently editing another article for the paper again that is about the Darfur genocide event that will be held at my school tomorrow afternoon. The SGA and Black Student Union are screening the documentary Sand and Sorrow, narrated by George Clooney.

I also have an idea to make my own music magazine for the state of Maryland that's similar to my favorite magazine Rolling Stone. I enjoyed myself at Advocacy Day, and I'm willing to go back sometime again to report on the state's decisions and issues from a liberal standpoint. And, Baltimore has one of the biggest music and poetry venues. In Towson, where I'll be heading next year, there's the Recher theatre and Sonar where there are always different concerts playing almost every night. With that, I can have staff writers and friends writing reviews and reports on the concerts.

My fall back plans are possibly becoming a career counselor to see what other jobs are available. Maybe an occupational therapist to help workers lower their stress and anxiety they have since I'm great with advice and I love helping people. I'm a sociable person.

But how can I get through this and decide what major I want by the time I reach Towson University? What do I need to go out there and say to prospective employers, "Hey! I'm your girl! I am excellent and focused! You want me!" I'm not sure if I have the experience. All I have is 2 years of Student Government as a secretary, leadership retreats and programs, and some community service. I've never been outside of the country nor the east coast. I haven't done much. I still want to be somebody to be remembered when I die. Not only that, we were talking about legacies at the dinner with the college president last night. (meaning an SGA and administrators meeting) I want to leave something behind to better the community and perhaps motivate someone in music and politics.

What will I leave behind? So I can take things a step further? What am I the best at?
I'm hoping I will find answers soon.

I better go and get some rest. Got to go to the Darfur event tomorrow and I have a whole bunch of work for classes and SGA. Night and hope to hear from someone!
-Rachel : )