Senior Year Goals

As I begin my final year at Wittenberg and as a journalist for The Torch, I have high expectations for myself. I’ve grown as a writer as well as an individual significantly since my beginnings at Witt, and expect the pattern to continue through my final year. 

Some of the more seasoned readers of The Torch might recognize my name from my column, The Weekly Tiger. The column has helped me to grow as a writer in ways that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. It gives me a sense of creative freedom and has honestly been very therapeutic. 

I journaled religiously for a large portion of my life and firmly believe in the therapeutic capabilities of writing about your problems or opinions that result from your day to day life. But, because of the public nature and structure of the column, it’s forced me to stop and reevaluate my thinking before publishing the finished piece, instead of leaving a miscellaneous jumble of word vomit on the page like I’ve done time and time again in my journals. 

For my final year with The Torch, my goal for myself is to not only end the year with a bang, but to grow as a leader within the organization both with my writing and the editing process. My previous goals have always revolved around personal growth but I feel the last three years I’ve worked on my writing enough so that I am now wanting to help other new writers and editors to better themselves and the future of The Torch. 

Outside of The Torch, I plan to attend Graduate school after Wittenberg to pursue a career in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Child and Adolescent Therapy. The process is incredibly stressful to say the least. Because the specialization is on a state by state basis, one must be recertified in order to continue to practice outside of their graduate schools home state. So, if I want to ever leave the state of Ohio, now is my chance. Not only am I choosing which graduate school to attend but I also have to consider the area surrounding the school as a potential place of residence after I graduate. Yikes. 

Coming to college was a huge adjustment and changed me in countless ways and I don’t doubt graduate school will do the same. A major goal I have for myself this year is to mentally prepare myself for that change and to accept it willingly, and not dig my heels in along the way in an attempt to cling onto my old habits or personality characteristics. Long story short: graduate school will be stressful and it will change me and I just need to be ready for it.