As college seniors, students are familiar with the routine of climbing to the top of the totem pole only to fall back to the bottom. But for the first time, this transition is not followed by a new set of syllabi and a refurbished freshman facade. Former students must learn to work their way up in the working world, a place unfamiliar and unexplored. For some, this prospect is exciting, for others: entirely daunting.
When they were freshmen, many of UO’s current seniors reported feeling disoriented and unsure. As they fell into place with their majors, clubs, teams and student organizations, what was once a big scary school became a place of comfort.
“When I first got to UO I felt very small and like a fish out of water,” Ella Hutcherson, a senior journalism student at UO, said. “But as college has gone on my circles have gotten smaller and more richer.”
Hutcherson attributes getting involved at Ethos magazine as a large reason why she now feels a sense of belonging at UO. Hutcherson started as a fact checker and writer to then assume an associate editor position and eventually work her way up to her current title as managing editor.
A part of the shrinking effect of getting involved is being surrounded by those who share your same passions. Within like-mindedness, circles grow tighter and individual passion intensifies. Chrissy Booker, founder of Labyrinth magazine and senior at UO, said her experience at UO has been strengthened immensely by starting up Labyrinth.
“I’ve learned so much from the people around me and I really cultivated a strong community of people I can rely on,” Booker said. “We created something that we’re really passionate about, and that we’re really proud of.”
Maxwell Ely, ASUO General Chief of Staff and senior at UO, also said getting involved helped him to establish a sense of community. Ely said he has made a bulk of his friendships through working with ASUO and that those relationships now feel like a family.
While friendship is important for support, happiness and general well-being, as we get older friendship gains new value. “Your network is your net worth,” graduate student and football player Casey Rogers said.
“The biggest shame I see is people who go through college and just sit in their room and do what they got to do,” Rogers said. “There’s so many resources out there, so many clubs. There’s so many relationships out there that can be formed, just by getting involved and talking to people.”
Down the line, the friendship you made in that random club you decided to join freshman year may just be the connecting dot to acquire new opportunities such as a job or internship.
“When you go out for jobs, a lot of times it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know,” Rogers said. “So the more people you know, and the more people know your name.”
At a school of nearly 24,000 students, the prospect of being a well-known name may seem impossible. For those who aren’t graduating, the best way to be known is to be involved. The UO is home to over 300 clubs and organizations, which is over 300 opportunities to become ingrained in the UO community. Hutcherson said getting involved has helped her become established in the city of Eugene and on campus.
“You are laying a foundation for the rest of your life, the relationships you make at UO and the involvement you engage in during your time there doesn’t disappear when you graduate,” Hutcherson said. “It continues to shape your life and make it richer and more fulfilling forever.”
For some, the idea of leaving the community they have become so involved in is terrifying. To go from high positions of authority in student publications, organizations and teams to being the new kid is disorienting and often humbling. Seniors become big fish in a small pond and graduate to the ocean.
“Being thrown into a new community, a different space with different people, and going into the workforce with people who have been in their career for 20 or 30, 40 plus years is scary,” Booker said. “You’re the baby again. So yes I’m scared, but I’m also excited to learn from the people who have had these experiences.”
For Ely, that new community is still unknown. Like many other seniors, Ely is still in the process of finding a job post-grad and said he is, for the first time in his life, unsure what the next step will be. Until now, most college students’ paths have been a process of going through the motions — go to high school, apply for college, get into college, go to college and graduate. But when the next step isn’t readily available for students post-grad, anxieties emerge.
“I have no clue where I’m gonna end up. I am pretty much open to moving anywhere where I find a job,” Ely said. “So I could end up on the other side of the country or in a different country entirely. That uncertainty is very nerve-wracking, but also exciting.”
While post-grad fear can feel more debilitating than other fears, after four years many have forgotten that same fear was present at the beginning of college.
“There’s a lot of anxiety going into the real world, but it’s kind of like that feeling of going to college for the first time,” Rogers said. “We had to take care of ourselves, and mom isn’t there to do laundry, and you have to cook for yourself or find food. It’s intimidating, but at the same time you figure it out.”
While both Booker and Hutcherson have their next step lined up with Snowden internships, a program that places students in a town in Oregon to work for a certain publication for the summer, the real world still feels fast approaching and daunting. Hutcherson said Snowden feels like an extension of college where she can pretend she hasn’t graduated yet. Booker said while she is trying to live in the moment and be immersed in Snowden, she can’t help but look forward and worry about what’s next.
Employment is a huge unknown moving out of college, but just as significantly, building up a new community can also seem impossible. Ely anticipates making new connections after college but has expressed anxiety over the nature of how such connections will be able to form.
“The environments for meeting people outside of college compared to inside of college are very different,” Ely said. “A lot of people I know on campus, I met on campus doing activities, and so the idea of trying to become friends with new people that are just in the same living area that I am is kind of nerve-wracking.”
Although uncertainty and anxiety are natural, Hutcherson said she doesn’t think seniors give themselves enough credit for what they are capable of. The fear of failure tends to linger in the back of the mind and cloud the realization of how far one has come already. Along the way, skills are developed and confidence gained and the process of familiarizing oneself in a new environment becomes less daunting.
“I feel like now that I have done it here I know it is possible to do it again,” Hutcherson said. “I don’t know if you ever feel comfortable 100% but I got there to a point which just proves it can happen again. Moving forward I will be able to have more confidence in the future knowing I will eventually get to a point where I’m comfortable.”
Many students feel graduation is bittersweet. After years of forming traditions and making Eugene feel like home, it can be hard to let go. But after all, it is only the end of an era, not the absolute end.
“College seems like it’s the pinnacle of our lives—you’re young, and you’re fun and it’s exciting, but that doesn’t have to stop just because you graduate,” Booker said. “There’s so much more to life, I’m 21 I have so much more life to live, it’s really not the end.”
At the end of it all, no matter what is coming next and what fears may be attached to such possibilities, the end of college marks a time for reflection on the gift of memories. When one graduates, they bring their experiences and relationships with them. While those relationships may change in spatial nature, they are not gone forever. As always, once a Duck always a Duck.
Editor’s Note: Ella Hutcherson is the managing editor at Ethos, a magazine under the Emerald Media Group. Hutcherson had no say or role in the writing, editing or publishing of this story.
