Monday, July 20, 2020
By:
You might have noticed from my previous blogs that I’m a pretty introspective person. I don’t talk about the happenings of my week at length and when I do, I like to keep it short. I don’t know why this is, I mean, I like talking about myself and my experiences as much as anyone else, (maybe a bit too much sometimes) but spending the summer at home has really put some things in perspective. When every week is mostly the same, it seems that nothing truly rises the status of blog-worthy.
This week I’ve been thinking about the future. As I said last week, this is a bad idea. There is no good reason to try and make plans for the future when the future is so uncertain but plan I must. As the summer comes to an end, I have to make plans to get back to school. AU has decided that classes will be some type of “in-person optional” so I am planning to return to DC in mid-August. This is my last semester of undergrad which makes planning for the future particularly difficult. I have no idea what the world will look like come December, let alone what my world will look like.
But I take comfort in knowing that I’ve made the most of my time in undergrad so far. I don’t know about your school, but AU has a pretty bad hustle culture. To many students it can seem that if you aren’t taking 5 classes, interning, are on the board of a club or society, and have time to see your friends on the weekend, you aren’t succeeding. This mindset is completely false and can be very toxic, but for a while I believed it. I thought that if I want killing myself, I wasn’t going to succeed. Coming to the end of my college career has taught me not to accept that culture, but to appreciate the drive and passion that motivates it. Looking back, I’m glad I decided to step into my university’s maker space one day and ask about working there. I’m glad I decided to apply for an internship with NASA, and I’m especially glad I decided to apply for an internship with SPS.
While I still have a few more weeks to go, my time with SPS and FYI has already been amazing. I have learned so much about science policy, writing, story, and style, not to mention been able to enjoy meeting my colleagues, making friends via zoom, and meeting so many great people at AIP. This opportunity has given me so much and I even feel comfortable stepping towards the future without a detailed plan. I know that my experience here will already help me in my future pursuits in science policy and journalism whatever they may be.
If you’re thinking about applying for this next opportunity next year, do it. I promise you it’ll be amazing.
Cheers,
Hale Stolberg