By Shaela Foster
As my last semester at the University of Tampa comes to an end, there are many deadlines that need to be met.
There are also many lessons that need to be learned as I transition into life after college. Although I have desires to pursue a postgraduate degree, life after UT will be the hardest thing for me.
It isn’t similar to transitioning from high school to college since I was technically just attending another school. There are differences between the two, like your customizing your schedule and the freedom you have, but it isn’t anything compared to soon being in the working world.
With this transition inching closer, I’ve been in need of tools to prepare me for it.
One afternoon, I received an email from a faculty member at UT about various workshops preparing graduate seniors for life after UT.
This email seemed like it came at the perfect time that I had been thinking “What can I do now that will help prepare me for when I leave UT?”
While studying journalism at UT, that’s also a question that is heavily emphasized within coursework. Professors stress polishing your writing for when you receive your first official journalism job. They want you to be more than ready to pursue a fantastic career in the journalism industry.
These constant reminders have mentally prepared me for the journalism world, but not so much for being an adult.
That’s why when I received the email, I was super excited and intrigued. The workshop topics include many topics; from taxes, to LinkedIn, and even budgeting. My parents did give me the foundation on these topics, but it would have served more if the college I attended could build upon those foundational pieces.
At UT, we take BAC 101 to give us a general idea of how to navigate our first year at UT but I feel sometimes students need more than that.
From my experience, BAC 101 was very interesting, but not everyone has that same experience. Most of the time students want to learn about how to navigate the world outside of college because, to be honest, we won’t be in college forever.
At some point, we have to move on, start our careers, and become adults. So, that’s why I believe having this Life After UT workshop occur the semester before I graduate, I believe was the best thing for myself.
The senior workshops are held each month from February to April in the Advanced Digital Literacy Center in the Tech Building in room 155.
In order to attend these events, you must RSVP on InvolveUT. The first two sessions were held on Feb. 6 at 3:30 p.m. on the topic of “Credit & Loans.” The second session was held on Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. on “Building a Network You Love.”
I want to work in the sports industry as a sports journalist, and networking is a term that is constantly being used. So, seeing a workshop about this was exciting because networking with professionals and other students pursuing the same career can sometimes be hard.
The Credit & Loans session was also an important one being that I am one of many students that will graduate with loans and who is in the process of building credit.
Having access to these workshops can provide others, like myself, to gain more knowledge on how these things will affect us in the future. Also, they will give us a good basis on how to handle them to prevent us from becoming stressed.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the first two sessions but these starter topics made me thrilled to attend the others being that the information the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion provides me with will serve me well.
Over these past 4 years, I can say that UT has moderately prepared me for life after UT.
I feel since I am graduating they are trying their hardest to cram my brain with all the important information, but at this point I am already stressed with a million other things.
I can entirely understand why they are holding these workshops, but I wish they would’ve held something similar to this my sophomore year.
Since COVID-19 had just begun around this time, it would have interrupted some of the workshops, but I do believe they could create monthly workshops that are targeted to each grade to assist them in their journey at UT.
Everyone doesn’t have parents that are willing and knowledgeable to teach them about things related to life after college, so some students rely on the information they hear from their friends or receive from their school.
I do believe the Life After UT senior workshops will tremendously benefit graduating seniors and help UT build a stronger relationship between faculty and students.
Not all students who are currently attending UT or did in the past feel the same way I do about the impact UT had on the knowledge they gained on how to navigate life after college. So, I believe more workshops where students are able to sit down with faculty members and pick their brains about various topics will really help students feel they are getting as much knowledge as they can out of their school.
As UT continues to grow and learn about how to appeal to their future students, I do believe they will help more students gain knowledge on topics outside of the classroom.
