With the beginning of the school year in full swing and a new crop of Wildcats on campus, the majority of them are stuck with the decision, “what am I going to college for?”

As an older and truly nontraditional student, many people said to me, “have a plan when you go to college.” Being older, I needed to have a plan in place and stick that goal. When deciding to go back to school, that was the mindset! Go to school for that one job that would open the door to the most money right out of college. 

One quarter and a business 101 class later, I had the realization that going to college to make money was not the real reason for me going to college in the first place.

Being a true definition of a nontraditional student, I have been in the real world, and prior to attending college, I made good money. I still chose to leave the job and go back to school. Why? Because money didn’t translate to happiness for me. 

Look deeper inward and ask, what am I truly passionate about? What gets me going in the morning? What is the one thing that I could do a million times over and want to do it again?

Now, this article is not to say that you should go and become a professional gamer because you love to hit the stick when you have free time. But instead, look deeper.

What are your passions? What is that one thing that when it punches you in the gut, and after the pain wears off, the feeling of fulfillment of that feeling is still there, so you want it to punch you in the gut again? What is it about the video games you enjoy? Is it the graphics? The game itself? How can you take that game and apply it to your everyday life?

In an article by Business Weekly titled, “Life’s Too Short: 4 Reasons to Do What You Love for a Living,” the four reasons are: you’ll feel more fulfilled, you’ll be more productive, you’ll inspire others and you’ll succeed.

When I asked myself these questions, I started to realize what I was passionate about and good at.

The Constitution is the most beautiful written document in the history of the world because of the idea behind how it was made, the theory behind it and the human science aspects.

In an article written by Alex Madajian, Madajan wrote, “The authors of the Constitution understood it would be impossible to rein in a corrupt human being, so they simply constructed a government which pitted corruptible human beings against each other.”

Aristotle called political science “the master science.” While you might not see it, everything in your life is political in one aspect or another. This is why I chose to get a degree in political science. It also pushed me to be a better student every single day because defending arguments is something I love to do.

I chose public relations because I love communication, and words are important. Reading through articles or press releases and trying to figure out what the writer really meant behind it is my idea of a good time.

It appears that in today’s society, students are using colleges as trade schools. What I mean by that is students go to school to get a job, and that’s it. Students are just going to get a job. Instead, use the general education pathway presented by CWU, which is a list of classes that you can take that not only help with your general education classes, but it gives you a wide variety of choices to take some classes that pique your interest. If you do that, maybe you will find your gut punch.