Tag Archives: career exploration

Marhaban! Introducing Elisabeth

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Marhaban, or hello! I’m Elisabeth and I’m so excited to start blogging for Beyond the Elms this semester! I’m a sophomore and have been proud to call Scripps College my home for the past year and a half. While it has taken me a long time to decide what I want to study, I am an English and Middle East & North African Studies (MENA) major with a potential Late Antique-Medieval Studies (LAMS) minor. You may be thinking, “Elisabeth, I get the whole English major concept, but what is MENA and LAMS?” Well, my new friends, MENA is an interdisciplinary major that centers on the study of the Arabic language, culture, literature, politics, and history–basically I study Arabic language, history, and literature. LAMS is essentially me taking classes about Islam and medieval Arab history with my favorite professor.

So now comes the question my parents have been asking since day one: what do you want to do with that? Well, I’m not sure that I want to do anything with my majors directly, but I would be interested in potentially teaching English–abroad or in the US–or working in diplomacy. However, my real interest for many, many years has been in law. My dad is a lawyer and I’ve always had the idea of being a lawyer in the back of my mind. Now that I’m a sophomore, I’ve decided to start making that dream a reality. English is actually a fairly common major for students who go into law, so that correlates fairly well to my career goals.

First impressions are all about the smile :)

First impressions are all about the smile 🙂

 

Internship-wise, I’m still searching for political or legal internships and look forward to discussing my search with you all! Ideally, I would want to intern for an organization centered around women’s issues and reproductive health. I’m applying for an internship grant through Scripps and you can find more info here. I had a paid internship with The Field Museum of Natural History in membership and annual fund–which sounds really out there until you know that I’m a manager and caller for Phonathon. I don’t think that I want to pursue a career in development, but I really enjoyed my experience and love Phonathon!

I’m excited to continue blogging about my career development and career topics. I am still figuring out majors and careers and internships and am looking forward to sharing with you! I will be sharing tips and experiences from my past internships as well as what I’m learning and working through in my current search. I will also be discussing networking and how to make your connections work for your career development. The internship search can be scary and intimidating, but it should also be exciting and fun to look into your options and opportunities! I hope you enjoy going on this journey with me!

A Quirky Career

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A small auditorium packed to the brim with women all staring at a large poster of a vulva and entranced by a woman who is explaining all of the unsaid wonders of what lies between the legs of over half the world’s population. This was a few Fridays ago at Scripps: two hours of Ashley Manta, a sex educator from Pleasure Chest (a major sex toy company) spreading her wisdom of all things related to the vagina.

As I watched her explanations with my jaw to the floor, I would sneak a peek at the other audience members who showed a similar level of shock. I was low-key embarrassed at how in shock I was. Nevertheless, this woman was single-handedly enlightening an entire room of people effortlessly with her knowledge of vulvas. As I began to think more in-depth about Ashley’s occupation, I was fascinated at the significant stamp she will leave on the audience who listen to her. She acts as a prophet to identifying women everywhere- covering the all of the forever questioned thoughts regarding periods, orgasms, hygiene, masturbation, STIs, contraception, and every little thing in between.

What was unspoken before, was unleashed thanks to Ashley and her ability to speak openly and honestly. I have looked her up and found her website, which is a portal to all the good she does. She writes blogs, books, articles, and even has a podcast regarding sex education awareness. Along with broadening my knowledge of sex education, Ashley gives a new spin to career planning. In college she majored in Philosophy and minored in Women Studies. Although these subjects definitely have relevance in Sex Education, it is refreshing to know that she did not feel woven down into her college majors. Her irregular and miscellaneous career is meaningful and makes a difference in our cultural epidemic of ignorant vulvas.

Breathing in Breathtaking Claremont

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Being at a place like Claremont has me in constant awe: constant awe of the beauty on the campuses, constant awe of the passion my professors possess, constant awe of the above average cafeteria food (okay maybe not constant)…but definitely constant awe of the intelligence of my peers.

In classes I am enlightened by fellow eighteen to nineteen year olds. That, my friends, is rare. The different backgrounds and unique ideas coming from each individual make for extremely interesting class discussions. I gain insight into new topics that I have covered and I’m delving into new concepts I have yet to explore. Sometimes in class we discuss a wide array of topics with no input from the professor. On these days I learn more from my classmates than from my professor. I enjoy going to class and I cannot iterate how inspired I am by the intelligence around me. Claremont sets and meets high standards.

Yes, we all know that Claremont is a special place. It IS the city of trees and PhDs, but at Keck Science Center, the collaborative science center shared between Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, and Pitzer College, I have seen first-hand the quality work that students are producing. Keck’s faculty and resources truly cultivate smart people who are doing interesting things.

Philip Paulson ’12 and Associate Professor of Chemistry Kathleen Purvis-Roberts prepare a gas chromatography experiment in the W.M. Keck Science Department.

Philip Paulson ’12 and Associate Professor of Chemistry Kathleen Purvis-Roberts prepare a gas chromatography experiment in the W.M. Keck Science Department.

I saw a few fascinating projects my peers were engaged in last Wednesday when my science class offered an extra credit opportunity to go and listen to senior thesis proposals. In the deep, dark, basement of Keck I made my way to Burns Lecture Hall. The three individuals that I listened to were working in labs with test specimens ranging from cold-sensitive plants to fruit flies and writing their senior theses about their results. Listening to my peers–just a few years older than I–was inspiring but intimidating. These people are doing such cool things, and I am highly impressed, but it brought upon a lot of self-reflection. Should I be working in a lab already? How do I even begin that process? Will I ever gain technical experience? And it all culminated into the big, overarching question that I have been consistently asking myself in these first two months of college: What am I going to do for the rest of my life? (Notice how when in panic mode your mind jumps twenty to thirty years ahead in time.).

At that point I took a deep breath. Claremont sets the bar high, with people achieving things I can only dream of, however, Claremont provides the resources to excel. If I express interest in working in a lab I can probably get a position at neighboring Keck or at another lab nearby. With enough drive, persistence, and hard work, I guarantee opportunities will arise. My professors are here to guide me, my peers are here to help, and I am determined.

The awe-inspiring atmosphere at the 5Cs makes me strive to achieve great things. There is still time to figure things out; I am still adjusting; I just need to take a deep breath. We all need to take a deep breath. Who knows, three years from now maybe another girl will be writing a blog post on my senior thesis proposal presentation.