I came to UW with hopes to one day work for Blue Origin, Space X, or some other semi-local company that I knew nothing about (other than they build rockets of course). As a direct admit to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (something I was told that practically guaranteed an engineering job at graduation) with a fresh new tattoo of the solar system on my back, I was ready to find the meaning of life in piles of Teflon Tape and hours of SolidWorks™ when I stepped on campus on that crisp September day back in 2016.
As I moved through my first years at UW, I did find that sense of fulfillment I was desperately searching for. However, it didn’t come from passing MATH 307 or fixing fuel pumps, but instead from things that had nothing to do with my time in the engineering classroom.
Read on to learn more about the various experiences that have shaped my journey, from performing an original monologue about my experiences with eating disorders, to the summer I spent in Stockholm, to writing a full length play about how much I love working in a college library.
As I sit here and reflect on my path to getting where I am, a senior about to graduate with a degree in Communication and Scandinavian Studies, I realize that, though it didn’t feel like it at the time, it was obvious from the beginning that I was never going to be an engineer. Starting fall quarter freshman year, the height of “my engineering days” as I call them, I was leaving little hints that something wasn’t quite right and trusting my future self to follow the breadcrumbs and figure it out.
It is the knowledge that every chance I took and choice I made thus far has led me to right where I’m supposed to be that keeps me sane as I navigate my way into the “real world” with no idea where I’ll end up. Will I go to law school? Write a Sitcom? Become a librarian? Start as a low level political staffer and slowly rise through the ranks until I become a high level political staffer who loves their job but still has no desire to be on the public facing side of government work? Some combination of the three?
Follow along with me as I become no closer to figuring it out (that’s something only time will tell).
I’ve organized this portfolio by year. Not because I couldn't think of anything more creative, but because trying to squeeze everything into categories never felt genuine. My college years have been full of eclecticism and confusion and the best way to get that across is to move our way along chronologically.