Usually going to senior seminar isn't exactly the part of my day I look most forward to, but I left class today pondering quite a bit, which is unusual, given majority of the class is typically devoted to catching up on discussion boards for my HR class and figuring out what it is my partner and I are going to do for our cafe simulation. I had forgotten we were having a guest speaker, which was probably a good thing I had left Jeffery (my laptop) in my room, meaning I would pay more attention.
Our guest speaker posed an ice breaker question to my class: "What did you want to be when you grew up when were younger and what are you doing now or planning to do after college?"
Immediately I thought of several things: princess, pediatrician, secret agent, architect, professional soccer player. I giggled to myself, thinking how silly some of those were, and glanced to my friends sitting next to me, who looked deep in thought. One of my best friends said he wanted to be a lawyer, and I'm pretty sure I looked dumbfounded. I've been friends with him for going on four years and had no idea. But then again, when I met him he introduced himself as a culinary arts major, and I guess it was stuck in my head that he was going to be a chef, and never thought he might have considered a different career before that one.
Most of my classmates had quite different dream careers from when they were younger compared to the now more realistic careers they had chosen, probably 3/4 saying they were aiming for these top executive positions that'll make them huge salaries in these super well known hospitality or entertainment/event companies. And then she calls on me. I said I had wanted to be a pediatrician or professional soccer player, and that now I want to be a professional cake decorator. Our speaker actually asked me again if I had said I wanted to be a cake decorator. I'm quite proud of how much I've improved since I first started here and how confident that cake decorating is exactly what I want to do. But at that moment, I just wanted to disappear, the judgmental looks I was getting from some of the people in my class, and the speaker no less, was a bit overwhelming.
After I left class I thought about how I ended up choosing cake decorating, and how far my intended career path is from what I thought I wanted to be when I was younger.
I've heard a lot of skepticism from people telling me I can't make a career of out what I want to do, and that owning my own business is the way to go. Well, I disagree, and to everyone who didn't think I would make it through even my first year of college, let alone actually finish and be good at what I do, I have a degree in Baking & Pastry and a certificate of Professional French Pastry, and am five weeks from a Food Service Management degree with a job already lined up. So I think I'm doing pretty well. And I like decorating cakes. It's what I do.
