I know a couple of things about myself for sure: I love my family, I love Texas, I love swimming, I love writing, I love television. Some of these things relate to each other, some don’t. Some seem perfectly normal, others completely random. All of them make up a small piece of who I am.
Knowing some of these things (but not all, as you shall soon see), I began to explore my college options in the summer of 2008 by taking “recruiting trips” to the four colleges I felt best fit me. Well, let me back up. When I say “best fit me” what I really mean is, “were the best swimming schools in the country…” Yes, at that point in my life I had yet to grasp (or appreciate) the concept that swimming would not always be how I would spend the majority of my time. I did not exactly understand what my life would be like once the only real passion I had ever known was gone – so I chose to ignore it and narrowed down my schools based on their placement in the 2008 NCAA Championships and my search began. Then, something changed. An extremely high kick in the air, five back specialists, and no diagnoses happened. And suddenly, just months before my first recruiting trip, it looked like my swimming career (and my leap into that terrifying world without my passion) was going to come to a quicker end than I thought. I found myself confused, angry, and utterly, hopelessly lost. Who was I without swimming?
I found my answer through a simple idea my mom suggested - writing. After a particularly taxing day at the doctor’s office where I received only blank looks and “I’m sorry but nothing is showing up on this MRI”’s instead of the help I so desperately needed, I found solace in making up my own song lyrics, poems, and first person narratives about my experiences. Writing became my way of letting out the pain I was feeling physically and emotionally. Also, as a bonus, I discovered I was actually kind of good at the whole creative writing thing! Another adventure I explored during my days of injury? Television. I’d always been a TV watcher – I enjoyed the usual gratuitous reality shows and occasional sitcom throughout high school. But it took an injury that left me literally flat on my back for weeks for me to actually delve into the world of quality television (VERY different from normal television, let me assure you!) – and not only enjoy it but become fascinated by it. I became mesmerized by the storyline of the epic series LOST, especially. LOST, I soon found, is the epitome of a ‘thinking man’s show’ with its constant literary references, religious undertones, and plotlines that consistently made me really think – not just about the mystery of my favorite characters, but about my life. Watching this show made me realize that, as cheesy as it sounds, a good television show can do more than just provide the public with an hour of relaxation; it can challenge, it can inspire, and it can cause us to question our own ideals and beliefs. I became so passionate about television that I began to explore the behind-the-scenes world of networks, ratings, demographics, advertising, and more. Eventually I was even given the opportunity to shadow a VP of a highly esteemed talent management firm in Hollywood and learn more about all the possible areas open to me in the field of entertainment.
(Watching ABC's hit drama LOST gave me my first taste into the world of 'smart' television - and also my first idea for a career outside of swimming...) Photo courtesy of: http://www.stallonezone.com/z091405lostbig.jpg)
The best thing about this new and exciting job field of entertainment and television was that my love of writing could be incorporated into such a job in so many different capacities – as a show writer, runner, or executive producer. Or, maybe I wanted to focus more on the business side of the television industry, perhaps become a network president someday? For this, I realized, I would need not only business-savvy, but also to be extremely well read and informed about politics, religion, and pop-culture in general. All of a sudden, I had about a million interests, all intricately connected in such a way as to set me on my path to find not just a career, but a new passion.
Which brings me back to the origins of my college search: recruiting trips. With a still-injured back and a newly enforced interest in the idea of combining my two seemingly very different interests into a field of study and, possibly a career, I began to consider each school I visited for much more than their swimming facilities and teams. I started searching for a liberal arts environment that would support all of my varying interests and enable me to become proficient in ANYTHING that I wanted.
Well, you must know the rest of the story by now. Plan II was the only program I found that fit all the requirements I needed: not only did it satisfy my swimming needs while also allowing me to stay close to my family (and in my beloved Texas!), most especially it allowed me to pursue my newfound thirst for any and all knowledge surrounding anything having to do with writing, reading, television, the business of television, et cetera! Said John Henry Newman in his famous The Idea of a University, “Only is true enlargement of mind which is the power of viewing many things at once as a whole, of referring them severally to their true place in the universal system, of understanding their respective values, and determining their mutual dependence (Course Anthology, 167).” Plan II was the program that I knew would offer me such a change to enlarge my mind. I have since told many people about my plans to enter into either the writing or entertainment world (or some combination of the two) and I usually get questioned as to why I am not entering into an English or Business or marketing major, rather than such a broad discipline as Plan II. After reading Robert Brickley’s text on the true value of a liberal arts education, I feel confident in answering my questioners by explaining that such a program as Plan II will actually probably end up giving me more opportunities than a specialized major. Why? Because, as Brickley explains, “The world’s body of knowledge doubles every five years…. Employers need workers who know how to learn” and that’s exactly what Plan II has already begun to and will continue to teach me (Course Anthology, 173F). Another of my favorite reasons Plan II is the perfect fit for me is that it actually encourages people with vague (yet somehow oddly specific in some places) career goals like mine. Said Henry b. McCown Jr., a Plan II grad himself, “[Plan II students’] career interests cover the rage from architecture to zoology, and they have the power to bring their interests to bear on any class they take (Course Anthology, 173I).” I find this especially exciting for me to read, seeing as how I’ve already begun doing a form of this – one example was my being drawn to Professor Bump’s World Literature class because the works Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were included in the curriculum (two books intricately tied into the storylines of LOST). A final reason I chose and am currently enjoying Plan II so much is the opportunity I had to learn experientially which, as the course anthology states, “can be more motivating, incorporating the pleasures of creating your own environment (Course Anthology, 184).”
It was after learning that Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland would be included in Professor Bump's World Literature Class that I decided to sign up - my very first stab at pursuing my interests actively in a class that might not specifically pertain to my career of choice. (Photo courtesy of: http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/alice-in-wonderland/thumbs/alice-in-wonderland-3-tn.gif)
At Plan II, I have been given the chance to make new friends, pursue new and old interests, gain knowledge in whatever subject I desire, and become the person I want to be when I do finally decide exactly which passion (or what combination of them) I will follow. For that, I am immensely grateful and excited about what my future holds.
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