Real Dream

~ Cailey Koch

By participating in Seeds of Success, I gained valuable information from alumni that I might not have known had I not gotten an opportunity to connect with them. As someone who has always been passionate about writing, it has been difficult to hear family members express their concerns about my choice to major in English. While I am going to get my master's in education after graduating and returning back home, teaching is not the only thing I want to do. My real dream is to be a writer, and while I think that there's a chance that I could have a future in writing, my family members are worried I won't be able to find a job in that sort of field right away. Their anxiety unfortunately transferred over to me, but now that I have heard different alumni who have different jobs and come from different backgrounds discuss their experiences, I have more hope. The advice I received not only from my group's mentors, but the other alumni who attended Blooming Together was extremely reassuring and encouraging. In addition to working with alumni, I enjoyed connecting with underclassmen and answering questions about the different creative writing classes I have taken, as well as the capstone course. I feel that even though I still have uncertainties of my own, I was able to provide some helpful reassurance or tips.