September has meant one thing and one thing only for the past twenty odd years of my life: back to school. After a brief hiatus last year from classes, homework, and deadlines, I knew this year might hit me head on like a freight truck. But, to be honest, I love school. Okay so maybe love is a strong word. I don’t love the Sunday night stress and twenty page papers, but the opportunity to learn and be surrounded by people with completely different experiences and view points than myself has always inspired me in the best way possible. As the saying goes, the moment you stop learning is the moment you start dying.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to go back to school this year. I came to Trinity with a double major in Sociology and Art History ready to study Business Management. More than one person has asked me how that adds up or ‘what I plan on doing with that’. For me it’s less about the end goal and more about the process. Right now I’m still learning, I’m soaking everything in, and allowing it to fuel my interests and guide me in the right direction. I can honestly say that every Art History course, Race and Ethnicity class, Africana Studies elective, and History lecture that I sat through during my four year long liberal arts education has drastically contributed to my overall understanding of the world and my place in it. I have no doubt that those classes will contribute to the way I approach Business Management, and that together they will provide me with a well-rounded and multi-faceted view of the world we live in. My Management course has eighty five students in it, all with different undergraduate backgrounds that do not include business. There are three students from the U.S., and a hand full from Ireland, with the rest coming from a diverse mix of different countries and cultures. We all have different interests, areas of expertise, and views of the world, and that only makes our time together in the classroom that much more rich and meaningful.
I feel incredibly grateful to be a part of the TCD community, and I know that no matter what I choose to pursue next after this year, I will have gained so much more than a degree from this experience. My Entrepreneurship professor works at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts and flies back and forth each week to teach our course. In our first class he touched on two elements that are vital to the entrepreneurial spirit; passion and purpose. Passion is necessary, because it fuels you, but the purpose piece is perhaps even more crucial, because it’s what sustains you long term. When he said this I immediately thought about Sport Changes Life, their mission, and my own journey to becoming a Victory Scholar. Sport Changes Life is founded on the belief that sport can have a profound influence on the life and well being of a child. It’s rooted in it’s passion for sport, but it’s purpose, to change lives, that’s what drives it forward, and that’s exactly what drives me forward too. I have always had an unwavering love and passion for basketball, but leaving a positive impact on people’s lives and bringing people together, well that has always been the ultimate purpose. I don’t know where I’ll be a year from today, but I know that If I follow my passions, and I strive to live with purpose, I’ll be happy. School is officially back in session, and it’s just as rewarding as I remember.
Until next time,
Shannon
