I had a college professor who played air guitar during lectures on 1960s culture and its influence Bob Dylan’s music. Another teacher had our high school Latin class dress in togas and hand out candy to celebrate the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. The most memorable teachers I’ve had are those who have made it clear that they’re passionate about the subjects they teach. A similarly passionate college professor led me to choose communication as my undergraduate major. Her use of real-life examples, song lyrics, and movie clips to demonstrate the communication theories she was teaching inspired a four-year fascination with the way people relate to and communicate with each other.
I chose my initial career path in public relations and communication because I always loved writing. However, I have found that I do not enjoy the writing I did for business nearly as much as writing for pleasure. I have a great deal of respect for my former colleagues, but editing newsletters and writing press releases is more formulaic than I prefer; although I can understand the marketing value that comes from maintaining the organization’s brand, I felt limited by the style of prose that the brand required. I know a lot of my coworkers went into marketing and public relations for the creativity these jobs offer, but for me, the work was boring and branding limited creativity. I spent many of my days sitting at a desk, writing about great things my coworkers do in support of cancer patients and a cause about which they are passionate, and I wanted to be doing great things for a cause that inspires me.
The decision to leave the security of my job to pursue another career was not an easy one nor was it a choice that I made without a great deal of exploration. I talked with former professors, friends from college, family, and mentors in the education field. Upon reflection, I found that I’ve been most excited by opportunities to guide others through something I’m good at. I loved working with other writers while I was an editor for the La Salle University campus newspaper; in my job with a Philadelphia nonprofit, I enjoyed writing and teaching a workshop on social media at an annual conference for staff.
I don’t regret starting my career in a different direction, and I don’t wish that I had chosen to pursue education as an undergraduate. Completing my degree in English and communication led me to get involved with activities on campus that I would have looked over if I had been studying education – such as the student newspaper – and those activities have had an important impact on my life today and introduced me to a wider variety of people than I’d have met in college otherwise.
The work experience that I’ve had since I left college, in both corporate and nonprofit communication, has solidified my desire to work with others in a more direct way. I am now certain that I am not someone who could be happy clocking in and checking out, nor am I a person who is cut out for eight or more hours a day in a cubicle. My jobs helped me better understand what I am looking for in a career. In college, my idea of success was tied to being a high achiever. If I was going to succeed in communication, I was going to need to climb as high on the organizational chart as possible. It was not long before I realized that I did not care nearly enough about the work to put in the time or effort required to make it to the top. I no longer see success as an impressive job title. I am far more interested in working at something I find personally fulfilling and I don’t think I could have understood this without my post-college work experience.
As a secondary English teacher, I want to have the same impact on my students that my colleagues had on patients and their families. Teaching is a profound way to have a positive influence on students, to share and inspire a love for a subject. The teachers I remember best are those who obviously love what they do and what they teach. That’s what I want to bring to my students. I love literature, I’m fascinated by grammar, and I think the ability to compose a well-written piece is one of the most important skills a student can learn. I don’t know if I’ll play air guitar or dress in a toga, but I do know that I’ll share my love of language and literature with my students. And I’ll hope to help my students find their passions the way I found mine, even if it requires a meandering path.
