Greetings! It’s time for some fresh faces round these parts.
I’m a third-year at Shimer, having found my way here after an uninspiring high-school experience and a year spent abroad as an exchange student. I started here as an early entrant, which allows high-school students who have not graduated the opportunity to matriculate as a "normal" college student.
I hail from a small town on the East Coast, but have slowly been forming a home for myself in Chicago. When not diving into the Great-Books, I enjoy flipping through journal articles about identity-formation, consumerism, postmodern feminism, and value theory. I spend a good deal of my time buying produce, or thinking about buying produce (right now it's asparagus, more eggplant, and some bell peppers).
This current semester is winding down, paper deadlines are looming, and one would assume that my mind would be geared towards planning out my senior/last/final year here. Instead, I decided to take an extra year to complete my undergrad degree. Considering that most of my post-secondary education has been unconventional, this really seems to follow suit.
When looking at what was in store for next year, in order for me to complete the core and a senior thesis, I envisioned a wave of never-ending work. I was also gradually realizing that as my graduation approached, I was less and less sure of what I wanted to do when it finally got here. It seemed quite silly to continue running full steam ahead with no direction in sight. Luckily, I really enjoy being at Shimer and feel that spending an extra year here will only allow me more time to better develop a sense of what to do with my education. It will also grant me more time to spend exploring other disciplines in academia.
I've been learning how to cope with ambiguity in many different ways at Shimer. And I've started to understand that it's ok to admit that you don't know what you want to do or that you don't have everything figured out. While I work at sorting things out, I've got more immediate aspirations to meet. I'll be spending this summer in the city, hopefully growing some vegetables, spending ample time bicycling, tackling a huge pile of books, and enjoying the sunshine.
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