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Graduating jobless? Find your adventure

April 17, 2013
	<p>Campbell</p>

Campbell

Photo by Josh Radtke | and Josh Radtke The State News

Editor’s Note: Views expressed in guest columns and letters to the editor reflect the views of the author, not the views of The State News.

“So, what’s next?”

“What’s your plan?”

“Are you staying in Michigan?”

“What do you wanna do with that degree?”

“What about grad school?”

Sound familiar? It’s safe to say almost every member of the MSU student body has heard that line of questioning.

It’s the type of interrogation my fellow soon-to-be graduates and I face on a near daily basis.

My response: I have no idea — and I couldn’t be happier.

Well, maybe I wouldn’t word it quite like that around my dad, but that is the honest truth.

I have no job lined up, I’ve only applied to a handful of places I know I’ll never hear from again, and right now, my money-making prospects are, shall we say, less than favorable. And I consider myself lucky because of it.

I’m sure this notion would give many other seniors — as well as their parents — a brain aneurysm, but I’m not sweating it and neither should anyone else.

I’ve spent my whole life under the confines of a plan. If I’m not executing a plan, I’m making one and, as soon as I’ve completed a plan, I’m on to the next.

I always knew where I wanted to go to school, what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it. Now, for the first time in a long time, I don’t know what my next step is, but I’m not scared. I’m excited.

What we, the jobless graduating masses, have is an opportunity for adventure — an opportunity not available to those set to work their early 20s away climbing the corporate ladder or writing research papers.

Those options are safe and I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough safety for a while.

Not to say college is devoid of risk taking. It takes a lot to go out on your own, put yourself out there, join clubs, meet people, study abroad or intern in some big city like New York City or Washington, D.C., but, as long as we’re in school, we all have our safety nets.

Whether it’s a strong group of friends to turn to, or a family ready to do whatever it takes to help emotionally, physically or financially, we have something to catch us when we fall and no matter how bad things get, within a few of months, classes are over and we can embark on a new semester with a fresh start.

Fresh starts are harder to come by in the real world and, frankly, for us graduating seniors, next month might be our last one.

Once you get on a career track, get married, start a family or buy a house, you start to put down roots.

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The more roots you have and the deeper they run, the tougher it becomes to get up and start over.

If this is our final fresh start, who wants to spend it toiling away at an underpaying internship or applying their $80,000 (insert non-engineering degree here) toward a job as a sales representative for a bank in Okemos?

Since coming to MSU, I’ve done everything by the books. I’ve been involved in extracurriculars, I’ve taken leadership opportunities, I’ve had three internships, a decent GPA and I’ve made great professional contacts. I’m graduating in four years, and I’m not in debt up to my eyeballs.

So, could I move back in with my parents, get a nice starting job with health and dental insurance and two weeks paid vacation, and, in a few years, move into a rental home across town? Yeah, I could probably do that.

But is a safe, comfortable transition out of college and into adulthood worth a lifetime of wondering what could have happened? Not for me.

My fellow jobless, internshipless, soon-to-be homeless seniors: There will come a day to fret about unemployment and an uncertain future, but that day is not today. Today is a day to embrace that uncertainty.

Use these next few months to try new things, go to new places and (in my opinion, most importantly) taste new foods. Learn something new about yourself and what you actually want out of life.

It’s not bad to have career aspirations beyond a summer landscaping job, not at all. It’s important to always have one eye on the prize just as your other eye is on the world around you, taking in the beauty of life while you have the chance.

For those seniors who have jobs lined up, the ones who still are on the course they mapped out in high school, I offer a sincere congratulations.

But for those lucky seniors out there without a clue about what’s next, I offer one final piece of advice: Don’t waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity sitting in your East Lansing rental or your parents’ basement emailing applications and blasting out your résumé.

Get out there and find your adventure.

Kyle Campbell is the sports editor at The State News and a journalism senior. Reach him at campb659@msu.edu.

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