How Arcadia Teaches Me to Grow Beyond the Classroom
I am in my junior year at Arcadia. Being an upperclassman is so much different from being a first-year because, as a junior, I have figured out a lot of things in my journey already. At the same time, I also need to think about what my next steps look like after graduation. It sounds scary, but Arcadia has helped me prepare for many things to ensure my transition goes smoothly after I graduate.
A few months ago, when I tried to figure out my path after Arcadia, I questioned myself a lot. I know that I want to do something in medicine, but at the same time, I also have many other interests in the business field. I felt stress at that time, but I also tried to ask questions to many different people on campus, and I even reached out to the Office of Career Education to get assistance from them.
Arcadia has helped me a lot with academic support and extracurricular activities that will prepare me for my future career. When I was a sophomore, trying to figure out what I wanted to do in the future, I decided to apply to volunteer at a nearby hospital near Arcadia. I was so scared at first because I’d never gone to the hospital alone before, but I knew that I needed to step out of my bubble so I could grow. My volunteer experience began as a greeter in the main lobby, and I made my way to volunteer in the Emergency Department (ED) later on. First, I found that it is overwhelming when I need to juggle between classes, work, and volunteering. I had a lot of self-doubt. I thought that I maybe couldn’t handle all of this stuff, but I managed to work through it.
I am also working as a research assistant in the Biology department. Doing research with Arcadia’s Biology faculty has helped me tremendously with my goals after graduation. This experience helped me strengthen my research and literature skills, how to conduct research in a timely manner, and my sense of curiosity. As a student who plans to attend a healthcare professional school after Arcadia, I found this very helpful for my future career. I highly recommend that students take advantage of this.
Throughout my undergraduate journey so far, I can see that Arcadia is more than just a college to me. Arcadia taught me how to live independently, how to think critically and carefully, how to step out of my comfort zone, how to make more meaningful connections with people outside of campus, how to communicate professionally, and how to manage my time efficiently so I can do a lot of amazing things while not spreading myself too thin. My mindset changed; “being ready” for me no longer means that I need to have a plan or figure everything out. Instead, “being ready” for me means that I know what skills or knowledge I have, and I know what I want to learn more about.
