Dear Rotarians and friends,
I had the opportunity to sit with STEM YEA student, Emma Landman, (photo above with myself and ST Rotary Member Darlene Scott) and her family at last week’s STRC meeting. As her father talked about his varied interests and careers it reminded me of a book I read a few years ago called, “How to be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up.”
I had the opportunity to sit with STEM YEA student, Emma Landman, (photo above with myself and ST Rotary Member Darlene Scott) and her family at last week’s STRC meeting. As her father talked about his varied interests and careers it reminded me of a book I read a few years ago called, “How to be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up.”
The book covers how we so often ask children what they want to be when they grow up as if it will be this single, static choice that they will then stick with for the rest of their lives. That may be how things used to be, but career choices look different now. We talked about saying “yes” to many different opportunities in our lives and seeing which of those opportunities feel right and guide us in the direction of what we love.
Later in the evening, we heard from Clarice Foster, who shared a very personal story about her journey from food insecurity to being active in girl scouts to leading a college service organization and involvement in theater to managing Keystone Opportunity Center’s food pantry, and joining STRC. Emma’s mother, who works as a teacher, pointed out the connection between Clarice’s journey and the many opportunities she said “yes” to throughout her life. We could see the path that openness to new experiences created as Clarice chose to live a life of service above self. We could also see so many great opportunities becoming available to Emma, who shared so many stories with us from her short time at STEM YEA. Emma fully embraced everything STEM YEA had to offer: science, learning, friendship and fun, and then readily accepted the invitation to come tell us about it.
I tend not to offer advice to people often. I prefer to figure things out on my own and assume other people do too. The one piece of career advice I would give people is to say “yes” to many of the possibilities that present themselves. They may soon find themselves very busy honoring all of the commitments they have made, but they will also find themselves living an impactful, purposeful life that is more meaningful than anything they could have ever dreamed.
Kate