Career Day at my alma mater
14 October 2009
I have to admit I’d recently been feeling a little guilty over my “College Preparatory” high school education. Seeing as it turns out I never used my expensive prepping. If we lived in an area with so-so schools, it probably wouldn’t have bothered me at all, but the schools here are fabulous. And while I adored my experience at Notre Dame de Sion’s College Preparatory school for girls, I’ve noticed that the more years that pass between me and my graduation year, the more I ask myself, “Did I really need that education?”
Yesterday, I was one of 20ish speakers for Sion’s annual career day. I hadn’t been there since I graduated in 2001, and the changes to the building were astounding. When I went there, the structure had hardly been touched since it was built in the 60s. There was no air conditioning, and when you start school in August and part of your uniform is a wool skirt and wool sweater vest, it gets pretty rank in there. But in the last 8 years, they’ve painted, added on, and sprung for central air.
What hasn’t changed all these years later is the girls. I could tell that almost the instant I walked through the vaguely familiar doors. They still sport the same hair do I did all through high school—the got-out-of-bed-five-minutes-before-I-left-and-through-my-hair-in-a-ponytail style. Complete with the headband to hold back those pesky bangs that require effort. I remember we all used to be stunned by each other at dances. Those were about the only times we saw each other in makeup.
And I’m probably biased, or maybe I received special treatment as an alum, but they were a dream audience. They looked at me during my spiel, they asked questions, they laughed at my attempts at humor. And—here’s the real clincher—every girl who approached me afterward with a question told me THANK YOU FOR COMING. This floored me. And it means I’ll jump at a chance to go back there.
Being at Sion yesterday reminded me of how I ended up there—I love that school. It’s the only school I ever loved, and it’s one of the reasons picking a college felt impossible to me. Because when I visited college campuses, they never “fit” me the way Sion did when I experienced it as an eighth grader. So maybe I haven’t taken full advantage of the “college preparatory” aspect of my education, but Sion shaped me and gave me the life I have now. Knowing what I know now, I would have made the same choice all over again.
Comments
Smack is right!
I don’t get people…
Posted by Stephanie on 14 October 2009
Yesterday a family member told me that they thought I’d wasted my college education, since I trained to be a teacher, and now I didn’t work at a school.
Smack.
I wouldn’t change my education a bit. And that family member, they should be mighty glad I am using my education degree, since I’m teaching my own kids, AND I’m free to work for him too! And no, it wasn’t my husband. :)
Posted by Erica Vetsch on 14 October 2009