My Career Path

It has been twenty-three years since the English professor knocked on my door to personally invite me back to class. I was attending a small college, where students and staff were friendly, supportive, and willing to help. I had always done well academically, but things had changed and now I was a 19-year-old single mother struggling to attend my classes. Perplexed by my numerous absences, the professor had come over to encourage me and to convey that she thought I had tremendous potential. I closed the door after our brief conversation and allowed disappointment to sink in. I wanted to go to school, but the logistical challenges of being a single mother with an infant child, no car, and minimal access to childcare made the task insurmountable. As a child, I had always dreamed of studying medicine and now I questioned how I had arrived at this point.

Our first few years in the United States were difficult and full of struggles. We lived on an unlicensed construction worker (dad) and a housekeepers (mom) salary until I turned 16 and was legally allowed to work.

find my niche. I went from wanting to be a doctor to a nurse and eventually landed on an

Jazz great Ella Fitzgerald eloquently said, "Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." Many know what they enjoy doing, but few people take the opportunity to enjoy their passions and do it as a career. The zeal for what they love means people can spend hour upon hours appreciating and relishing the venture at hand.

I realized that the medical field would allow me to help people while learning and observing different facets of the

I felt like I could not do anything to help fix this and before I knew it I was graduating. I graduated knowing that I could have done so much better in school and that I did not show my full potential. That was a tough lesson to learn

What do you have in your life that is so precious that you wouldn 't change your lifestyle because of it? Is there something in your life that is holding you back from reaching for your passion? If you answered anything to these questions, maybe you should take a look at yourself and see what you can do each day to reach for your own personal dreams.

My career path has undoubtedly been influenced by the people who I have come across in my life. Those people have shaped and molded me in some fashion be the person that I am and who I strive to become. I have been and will continue to foster a compassionate ideology and lifestyle. My family coming from no more than the clothes on their back, leaving a worn torn country with no education have helped me better understand my role in life. I know and have come to a remedial understanding of how I am able to forge a better future for myself and family, I am and is undertaking a journey of transformation to become a counselor to serve others. I think that coming from a family with no education background, it was quite difficult to find someone to look up to for guidance future career options. Also, having come from a particularly large family consisting of seven other siblings, I thought that I was overshadowed. As the middle child I was left out usually, so in turn I became independent and select a path to help others that have similar struggles to like I did.

I began my journey as an undergraduate student at Arizona State University in August 2013. As any normal college freshman, I had the unrealistic expectation that the future career choice, I would choose to dedicate a majority of my life perfecting, would come without much hardship. At the age of 19, I did not have a good understanding of how much strength, discipline, and dedication it would take to not only choose the proper degree that I would benefit from once graduation came around, but how each year of growth would soon lead me to discover more things that I would want to pursue, career wise. I believe that most freshman, including myself, had the idea that our journey throughout the four years we are given at Arizona State University would guide us directly to the career that our future would encompass, to only learn that in order to properly benefit from all that this campus has to offer you have to discover more about yourself. After multiple changes in career choice, and three and a half years of rediscovering who I am as an individual, I can say that I am one step closer to finding the career that I have been searching for. A Master’s degree in Public Administration, with a concentration in Emergency Management and a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management would bring me one step closer to a career path that allows for me to demonstrate leadership, competency, and the ability to put my effort towards the endless possibilities that my future beholds.

Last year I was a graduate student investigating the structure of enzymes involved in RNA splicing. During that time, I worked long hours in the lab and spent late nights at a computer analyzing data. Today, I am a coach at a junior tennis academy. Now, my mornings are free and my afternoons are filled teaching the fundamentals of tennis to young players as I hope to transition towards a career in law. How did I arrive at this juncture? What motivated me to leave the lab and embark on this new path? To answer these questions, let me first explain what motivated me initially to pursue a career in research.

"The judge has made his decision, the accused has been found guilty." These are the words that one day I will finally hear. My future goal is to be a lawyer. A lawyer is a professional person authorized to practice law. They defend or prosecute people for the crimes they have committed. (dictionary.com) I am very out spoken and believe in fighting for what I want or think is right.

Growing up, there was several different career paths I wanted to take but was not reachable at the time. Throughout my high school my career goal was to be a civil or mechanical engineer. At the time, it wasn’t clear to me what a engineer’s job function is. My family urged me to pursue that dream just because of the perks that comes with it such as money. Math was never my strong suit, neither was school and to become an engineer, several mathematics courses are required. My first two years as a transfer student in college, I had no idea what my career path should be if engineering doesn’t work out. After taking careful consideration, working in the tech industry was something that needed to be done. A few friends of mine gently pushed me in that direction but my vision to pursue a career in tech was a bit fuzzy. Eventually I started leaning towards business, but by then it was already to late for me to switch majors. I chose Sociology as my major because I found the courses interesting to learn, and it is something I can apply to business. Earlier this semester, I decided to push towards specific fields such as sales or human resources. Eventually, I do see myself In a leadership position at work such as a management position in my work place. I do believe I have what it takes to become a manager, but only after being with a company for some time so I can understand the concepts and how to adapt to the given environment.

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word change using the following: “to make different in some particular: ALTER b: to make radically different: TRANSFORM

As the last year of college has started it is time to focus your thoughts on your future career. Many of you already know what your career path will be and others are still fine tuning your choices. If you have great communication skills, are detailed orientated and have a strong aptitude for science you may want to become a Pharmacist. A Pharmacist doesn’t just hand out drugs, it is much more than that. You will need to complete a four year degree to obtain your Pharm.D. (Doctor of Pharmacy). Admissions requirements vary by program, however, all Doctor of Pharmacy programs require applicants to take postsecondary courses such as chemistry, biology, and anatomy. Most programs require at least 2 years of undergraduate study, although some require a bachelor’s degree. Most programs also require applicants to take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prospective pharmacists must pass two exams to get a license. The North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam (NAPLEX) tests pharmacy skills and knowledge. The Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam (MPJE) or a state-specific test on pharmacy law is also required. Applicants also must complete a number of hours as an intern, which varies by state (2016). Pharmacists can work in hospitals, retail and grocery stores, drug and insurance companies and healthcare facilities. On a typical day a pharmacist will:

My career path was rerouted after the birth to my son. I was managing a 24-hour Alarm Monitoring Call Center with two years of college education in Psychology. Due to an inconsistent work schedule and difficulty locating Psychology courses that worked around my schedule, I decided to change my career path to Business Management, since I already had nearly 8 years experience in supervision and management. My mentor introduced me and made me familiar with the Dictionary of Occupational (DOT) following high school. The DOT is comprised of all occupations and job titles, salary ranges, responsibilities, and industries (Berry, 2003). As I prepared for my new journey, I evaluated my decision, researched, planned, applied for new occupations that interest me, and prepared for my new career in Management.