Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always dreamed of teaching young minds and having my own classroom. That dream lasted until my senior year of college where my career path took an entire 180. Let me explain… 

Throughout my life, my educational goals seemed to always fail. I’ve always dreamed of attending Slippery Rock University, but I knew I needed to reach a certain score on the SAT’s to do so. I took the test three times and still did not reach their acceptance score. I still applied and was put on their wait list. I didn’t hear back for a while so I decided to call admissions and get the status on what their decision was. I was told that I was denied over the phone as tears began to roll down my face. 

My only choice was to attend community college in order to transfer to Slippery Rock. I only needed at least a 2.0 GPA at community college to transfer. Well, I worked my butt off and earned a GPA of 3.5 and transferred to Slippery Rock with no problem.  

I began my college career with a double major in elementary/special education. And guess what? I needed to pass more standardized tests to start block classes and continue in the major. To sum it all up, over $600 went down the drain along with lots of stress and tears just to pass a stupid test.

I remember the exact moment when I knew something needed to change. It was March 2020 and the pandemic was on the rise. I took my laptop downstairs to my dad and said, “I can’t do this anymore.” He was very supportive and helped me apply for a change of major request form immediately. 

I decided to change my major at the end of my junior year of college to Communication with a concentration in Integrated Marketing. And let me tell you, this past year has been nothing but an upward trend. 

Fast forward to a little over a year later and I can confirm I’m where I’m supposed to be. When you find your passion, things will really take off. Since changing my major, I have:

• Made Dean’s list every semester
• Accepted an internship position with Beyond Boss
• Improved my professionalism
• Gained so much self love and I am overall HAPPY

When choosing your career path, you need to understand who you are as a person. What are you passionate about? What do you enjoy? What are your strengths? Write them down. It is so easy to turn YOU into your career. 

But what about the money? Here is what I say about this. As long as you can support yourself, your family, your kids, etc. while still being able to do fun things, you will be okay. Love what you do before you love your income.  

And finally, GO WITH YOUR GUT! Make risky decisions about your career. No goal or dream is ever too big to achieve.