Bloom Where You Are Planted

Yesterday, I had the incredible opportunity to go back to the high school that I attended, Blue Mountain Union School, in Wells River, Vermont, and I was going to talk to the middle school students, faculty, as well as the school board on my experience of getting to college, and give some simple advice to these students.

I proceeded to tell these students about how I grew up: from the time I was born until I was 15, my family moved 18 times!  When we finally moved into the BMU school district, I declared that I would graduate here.  Unfortunately, at the end of my sophomore year of high school there, my parents told my siblings and I we were moving yet again.  Therefore, I set out to try and stay at BMU, and the way I saw to be able to do that was to become an emancipated minor, legally an adult at 16 years old.  While I was working on becoming emancipated, my GEAR UP counselor Dianne was trying to get me to think about what I wanted to do once I graduated high school.  I sort of blew her off (sorry, Dianne!) and put it in the back of my mind.  This came back to bite me once it came time to apply to colleges.  I only applied to two, and on the application this question came up: pick the top three areas of study you are interested in.  I hadn't considered this much at all, and so I made a very uninformed decision - 1) Biology; 2) Chemistry; 3) History.  I picked these three because I liked these classes in high school - a pretty sound decision, right? Well, I attended the University of Vermont (UVM) majoring in Biology the following year.  When it came time to meet with my advisor, I found it frustrating because I literally had 10 minutes with her.  I had never met her before, she didn't know me, and she had 80 other students to advise.  I said I was interested in medical school and was curious as to what classes I should try and take next semester.  Instead I got this response: "You should think about being a nurse...my sister is a nurse and has done really well for herself."  Utterly confused, I left, did some research on my own, and came back the next week.  I said that I had looked up some classes I thought would be good to take and wanted some advice.  The response? "Thats good, have you thought about being a medical laboratory scientist?" What?  Confused and frustrated, I left again - this time I was searching for a new major, and a new advisor to help me out.  I ended up transferring into the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics department - I knew nothing about either of these subjects, but as I talked to my new advisor, I felt more reassured.  Again, I said I was interested in going to medical school, but had no idea how.  He laid it all out for me, giving me plenty of suggestions to get me ready to apply to medical school.  Finally! Someone with advice that was relevant to my needs, and focused on what I was interested in.  

Anyway, the point that I gave to the students I told this story to: 

1) Start thinking about what you're interested in NOW.  Don't think about what you want to do for the rest of your life, but develop the interests you have.  Those interests can develop into something more further down the line. And don't ignore people when they are asking that all important question!  You don't have to know what you want to do right now, but you do know what you like to do, or are interested in, and someone, somewhere will be able to help you further develop those interests - and people in an environment such as a school can help connect you with people who can develop your interests.  Be it cooking, history, or diesel mechanics, your interests will help make those all important decisions later on.

When you do something you love, it doesn't feel like work at all.

2) It is okay to change your mind about what you think you want to do later in life.  I spent a lot of time going back and forth between pursuing a PhD and MD.  Its okay to make a change, just make sure you are okay with the change - not everyone else, you.  

Because of course, only you can ultimately decide how happy you are in life.

As I was leaving BMU, I noticed a banner over an archway.  It said "Bloom Where You Are Planted" - and that is totally right.  Make the absolute most of your situation, because each experience you have can help you to learn something that can be useful to you in the future.  A perfect saying to students in middle and high school.

And, of course, remember... #GEARUPworks!

Cody Paiva