Facing college graduation

Local seniors reflect on college years

By: Audrey Levine
   Four years ago, they prepared for a new milestone when they graduated high school and entered college.
   Now, the Class of 2007 is preparing to make the leap from college students to members of the working world.
   "I’m not sure I want to leave college," said Alex Brown, a 2003 South Brunswick High School graduate who is studying the music industry at Syracuse University. "I’d love to stay in college for another three years, but I’m not going to graduate school. I don’t want to stay in it that bad."
   With one semester left before graduation in May, the students are busy completing final courses and deciding on their best career course.
   Although Kathrine Schmidt, originally from Kendall Park and a 2003 graduate of Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, said she knows she wants to be a journalist when she leaves Tufts University in Boston, she is unsure exactly what aspect of the business she would like to pursue.
   "I’d like to work somewhere in journalism, ideally in business or politics," she said. "When I’m 45, I’d love to be working for a magazine or a big newspaper magazine, writing delicious long profiles about politicians and aides, but also just about general movers and shakers."
   Mr. Brown said he is confident that he would like to be involved in the music industry, but would be willing to alternate between different jobs.
   "I would much rather have a career as a musician, but since that’s not very likely, I’ll probably end up getting a job doing something in the record industry," he said. "Ideally, I think I would want to be an artist manager, but you need lots of connections to do that."
   Brittany Perkins, also a 2003 SBHS graduate, is studying hotel and restaurant management at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison. She said she has several ideas for her future.
   "I (might want to work) in a hospitality corporation like Marriott," she said. "I plan on getting a job and starting my career, then going to graduate school, probably for communications or business."
   Ms. Perkins said she is also considering law school or becoming a teacher.
   "There are so many things I want, I just have to find what I am really good at and go with it," she said.
   Despite their goals and hopes for the future, Ms. Schmidt and Ms. Perkins said they will miss being around all the people at college.
   "I am in a sorority, Theta Phi Alpha, and I will miss my sisters so much because they had a lot to do with my growth and who I am today," Ms. Perkins said. "I would not be the person I am today without my sorority because it has given me a lot of opportunities to go beyond what my capabilities were."
   Mr. Brown said his college work has taught him how to get ahead in the music business. He said his best experience came from interning at different recording companies, including at Island Def Jam Music.
   "You have to really put yourself out there," he said. "In many ways you have to put on an act, especially while interning. You have to be seen as the most dependable guy in the building, so whenever they want something done they go to you. Then they learn your name and you make contacts with those who could help you in the future."
   Ms. Schmidt has a more philosophical approach to her lessons learned in college, saying that it was important for her to take the opportunity to leave New Jersey and find her own way away from home, dealing with whatever life threw at her.
   "I learned emotional endurance, learning to stick it out when everything is totally alien," she said. "Follow your heart, keep loss in perspective, but fight the good fight and hold nothing back."
   Ms. Perkins said that even though she knows she has made mistakes over the years, she has learned from them and forged ahead with her career.
   "This was basically the best time of my life and, in a way, it is ending, but my life is just beginning," she said. "It’s scary, but so exciting at the same time."
   Mr. Brown said he recommends that students enjoy their time in college because it is the last chance to live without the responsibilities of a career.
   "The best advice anyone gave me in college came from my older cousin, who told me to enjoy myself as much as I could because this was the last time in my life when I was going to have so little responsibility," he said. "I would just tell kids to not work too hard, don’t get totoo worked up over anything and, basically, don’t take any experiences for granted."
   The three agreed that college is definitely a worthwhile experience that they are not quite ready to leave behind.
   "I often think about high school and how I thought those were some of the best times in my life," Ms. Perkins said. "I thought I had matured and grown up, but now I know differently. I want to make sure I do not look back four years from now and say I wish I had done it better."