As it turns out, my college coursework didn’t include a single class on the one issue that would prove to be most important upon my graduation in May: how to deal with the largest world health crisis of our generation and an ensuing economic crash.
None of my professors held me by the hand and explained how to thrive in the face of pervasive fear and health concerns, navigate the onslaught of conflicting and confusing information in the media, or how to protect a job I hadn’t even started yet.
But the longer this crisis has played out, the more I realize that being given an exact formula for success was never meant to be part of my coursework anyway. If anything, my strategic communication studies have taught me that our industry rewards those who are able to take the broad and variable communication skills they have learned and apply them to any story that needs to be told.
During my years as a member of the UW-Madison chapter of AWC, many of our guest speakers described long and winding career paths that included different specialties, freelance work, career shifts, and both adversity and success in turn. While our present moment feels difficult for all graduating seniors—and even more so for those who continue to face an increasingly bleak job market—this is perhaps the perfect moment for us to flex the skills we’ve learned and begin our own unique career paths. As professional communicators and AWC members, we know how to seek out opportunities, how to network and leverage our connections, how to explore new territory, and how to use our creativity in any situation. Now, it’s time for each of us to start somewhere—whether that means starting a new job, taking the chance to deepen our professional connections, expand our skills and portfolios, or launch our own business opportunities. Wherever we start, it will lead us somewhere unpredictable and exciting—we just have to start.
Though our post-grad journey is certainly starting out differently than we had hoped, I already see great potential in the class of 2020. Our class hasn’t been handed anything easily. Some of us are graduating with job offers that we fought to earn and now, in this crisis, to maintain. Some of us are graduating with an opportunity in sight that is now more highly competitive than ever. Many of the things we assumed would be ours in the future have now become increasingly uncertain. Though this shift in attitude is hard, I think it will give our class a deeper toughness and tenacity to fight for the opportunities we want throughout our careers.
The other exciting trait I see in my graduating class is a deeper level of compassion and camaraderie than ever before. We are a class that has been forced to sacrifice many of our dreams and opportunities for the greater good, and I think this will be a defining feature of our lives and careers as well. Though the loss of these opportunities is disappointing, we are a group that has come of age with the acute knowledge that a career and job title come second to the health and happiness of our friends, family, and community, and that some things are worth banding together for even when it’s hard.
That being said, I am grateful that my college experiences as a member of AWC taught me many of the skills and lessons that will carry me forward through our current moment and whatever the future may hold. More than ever, I think our world has stories that need telling—and my classmates and I are ready to tell them.
About the Author
Caroline recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin with her BA in Strategic Communication and a minor in Graphic Design. She looks forward to applying the skills and advice she gained from her courses and from student organizations like AWC in her first post-grad position as a graphic designer for Lands’ End.
