Up until my freshman year of high school, I was set on being a veterinarian. With a love for animals after growing up with 5 dogs, some cats here and there, I was dedicated to make this dream come true. I attended a youth pre-vet lecture program at a local Buffalo college and visited Cornell because of the prestige of their veterinary degree. It wasn’t until I told our family veterinarian that I wanted to do what he did, that my plans were completely derailed. He looked at me and said, “we don’t get enough recognition for the work that we do.” We had a long and upsetting conversation in the examination room that day about how the vet lifestyle wouldn’t really make my dreams come true and my strengths wouldn’t be highlighted if I decided to pursue being a veterinarian. It was really hard to hear but I ventured on. I had come to the conclusion that I would take my love for animals as a hobby, maybe one day I would volunteer at a shelter, or foster animals of my own. The dream wasn’t gone or completely derailed, it just took a different route. During my sophomore year, my next immediate thought was psychology. My parents divorce was still fresh and I had received a lot of advice and comfort from talking to a psychologist. It was amazing for my mental health whether I was upset or having an amazing day, and I wanted to help people like my psychologist did. Now it may sound silly, but one thing stopped me from pursuing that degree. At the time I was really thinking about my own family one day and enjoying my twenties, so I avoided psychology because getting my doctorate would’ve taken too long. Looking back now, that was a very lazy decision! I should’ve known that had I really wanted both, I could’ve had it with hard work and determination. All in all, I realized that I’m actually glad that I made that choice because it opened my eyes to what major would fit me best. My junior year of high school, I was serving for my third year on the student government board, one year under my belt as the public relations officer and another year as treasurer for our school’s key club. That year we also started to video tape our announcements, which was a project I helped create. Therefore, I took on the position as co-host for “Chief Talk.” My passion for talking and coordinating was shining through in everything I did that year, like helping generate a moment of silence for students that were lost that year in school shootings by working with administration to execute it safely and effectively. I also got myself a summer internship with a local paper so I could bring attention to unified sports programs. Everything started coming together and all of the arrows pointed in one direction… “You should look at communications programs.”
When I was looking at colleges, I had no idea what a communications and media degree was. As I did more research, I realized that it combined a lot of things that I was good at and more importantly loved to do like writing, public speaking, and creating content. I started looking for people in positions around me that could tell me about it or could bring me to someone that had a degree in communications. Everything that I learned during my junior year and beginning of senior year exploration of this degree brought me to where I am today. When Nazareth showed up on my radar, they were doing a recruiting event at a golf club near me. I went to meet some of the admissions team and they brought a successful alumni from the area with them. Her degree in the School of Business and Leadership at Naz led her to a really fruitful career with the Buffalo Bills as a social media editor with Pegula Sports. As she stood in front of us that night talking about how awesome Naz was, the gears in my brain started turning and I knew that I could be her one day. I wanted to be her, talking about how that school brought me to a really cool career but also helped me find myself. That April of my senior year I committed to Naz.
Now that I’ve been at Naz for over 2 years, I’ve come to realize that I was really fortunate that my major found me. When I took my first communications class, it felt like I was right where I belonged. What’s helped me the most since I’ve started my junior year is making connections with any and everyone I can find in my field. I will always take on opportunities where I can expand my portfolio and get my name out there! Whether you know your major now or you don’t think you’ll figure it out until a year from now, just know that you are still on the right track! Keep your head up, your mind open, and try to pursue what you love.
