我一直很喜欢写作, but I didn’t think it was something I could build a career out of when I started my journey at Brescia University. If you can believe it, I started out as a business major. Thankfully that didn’t work out because I met Bart my first semester.
I can still recall sitting in his cozy, yet chaotic office for a Writing 101 conference. 在他的典型的冷静，不尝试, 实事求是的态度, he asked me why the hell I wasn’t majoring in writing. 我紧张地笑了，因为我只有19岁, and that’s what you do when real adults ask you very real questions with no pretense. I rattled something off about the competition and the lack of lucrative job opportunities in the field. Sure, I loved it, but could I make it something that could support me in the real world? I didn’t think so.
Bart was disappointed, and he made it clear. He continued to reach out throughout the year. By the end of it, he had lit a spark that I lacked all those years writing before college. He made me believe in my writing – that it was something worth sharing, that others would want to read what I wrote, and that they would glean something from it.
The next year I was registered as an English major with an emphasis in professional and technical writing. Dr. Ellen Dugan-Barrette was my advisor, and she fortified where Bart built me up. I became an even stronger writer because of the arsenal of skills she equipped me with – from advanced grammar and editing to linguistics. 在我大四的时候. 老板加入了员工队伍, and he introduced us to advanced literary analysis, which enhanced my writing by making me a more reflective creator.
Because of these influences, I don’t just love to write. 我喜欢写作技巧. 我是一个组合战术家, 如何构思一个词, a sentence, 一份文件可以产生最大的影响. 总是重访、重做、精炼.
After graduating, I faced that daunting mountain of insecurity that all recent grads come up against. I was trying to break into the very field that 19-year-old me tried to avoid. I had no experience and a portfolio that wasn’t going to impress anyone outside the academic world; however, I was reminded of the skills that I gained at Brescia. I felt empowered by all the professors that spent years investing in me. The spark that Bart stoked all those years ago was now a guiding light because I knew 我有能力成功.
I eventually landed a technical writer role in the mortgage industry. It wasn’t glamorous, but like Brescia, it was the perfect opportunity to establish myself and grow. Six years later, I am in my dream job as a Content Editor for a software company that embodies the same values that I learned and lived at Brescia. I continue to build off all those skills and lessons that I learned during my university years, and I am so profoundly happy that I was convinced to pursue my passion.