I should have expected it, but senior year is off to a
stressful start. Between classes, my senior thesis, jobs, clubs, and rehearsals,
I’ve began to feel overwhelmed. Perhaps the worst part of it all is that
looming above the everyday stress of college life is the pressure to land a job
at the end of the year. Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly worrying about the
future- wondering where I’ll live next year, concerned over my penchant for
waitlists, and already feeling the burden of student debt. It’s hard to enjoy
these sacred last few months on campus with the fear of the future lurking over
me.
This weekend my family visited, and I found myself crying to
my mom about the pressure I’ve been feeling. She reminded me that sometimes
when things feel like too much, when we hit roadblocks, when one door seems
like it closing, it is often God’s hand directing us to where we really need to
be. Of course, I rolled my eyes and groaned. Sure, Mom. But then later, when my
family left, I thought back to my freshman year at Notre Dame when I saw this
very thing happen.
Affording Notre Dame has always be a tense topic in my
house. My Notre Dame financial aid package arrived the night before I needed to
decide if I wanted to accept the spot that was offered to me. I had forever
dreamed of going to school at Notre Dame and there was no way I was going to
say no to my dream school. One of the conditions my parents set was that to go
to Notre Dame, I was going to have to take on a student job.
In typical planning-obsessed me fashion, I started my job
hunt the summer before my first semester. I found an online application to be
an usher at DPAC and decided that was the perfect job for me. I had spent all
of high school participating in as many performing arts as I could cram into my
schedule. No job sounded better than being constantly surrounded by the arts. I
was totally invested in the job. I filled out the application and scheduled my
interview when I arrived on campus. The first week of school, I came to my
interview well dressed, gushing enthusiastic answers about how much I loved the
arts and how excited I was for the job. “I’m a shoe-in,” I told myself.
Then I didn’t get the job.
It was fine. I could totally carry on. I applied for
administrative positions in various offices. I applied to work in a few
different cafes on campus. I applied for boring office jobs that mainly
involved spreadsheets. And nothing. I was getting discouraged. I had promised
my parents I would get a job and nothing seemed to be turning up. I was so
worried. Without the extra money, I was worried that I might have to take on
more loans on top of the ones I already had.
But then in the beautiful way God works, the perfect
opportunity turned up. CUSE was looking for student bloggers to take part in “The
Hub,” a blog that discussed academic life at Notre Dame. I loved writing,
especially looking at ways to share writing online. It seemed like a perfect way
to direct the amount of time I already spent blogging. Something about this
clicked for me. I got very serious about my application. With help from my RA,
I put together my first resume. I learned how to write a cover letter and
choose a writing sample. I even came up with a list of ideas I had for the
blog. I was nervous, but excited for my interview.
And I got the job. I dove right into writing articles such
as an inside scoop about the French play I was in and an Academic Guide to
Valentine’s Dates. I even got to meet a major art curator (who is also my
favorite author’s wife) and interview her for the blog. Even more importantly,
I made some amazing connections with CUSE, which has helped to become part of its
honors society, Sorin Scholars, and receive research grants to travel to France
and New York City.
Unfortunately, the blog closed the Spring Semester of my
freshman year. It wasn’t long after this, I was sitting in Waddicks, between
class and doing homework with a friend, I found the posting for the Campus
Ministry blogger position. I got this excited tingle. How perfect was it for
this beautiful, ideal job opening to come about just after the last blog
finished? A chance to not just write blogs, but to make a meaningful
contribution in peoples’ lives. A chance to write about my faith, to talk about
things that matter deeply to me, and share personally of myself to others. Over
the next few weeks, several people recommended I think about applying, a further sign to me
that this was something I had to try for.
So after another round of resume making, cover letter
writing, and interviews, I ended up with the amazing job I have now. Of course,
back in September of my freshman year, I didn’t know this was where God was
leading me, but boy, is this such a great place to be. We can’t know when we are
stuck in the troughs of disappointment frustration that the closed doors are
part of God’s plan. It is only when we look back that we see the flawless
artistry in God’s plan for each of us.
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