I wanna be a fireman! An astronaut! A princess! Shout it out for all to hear, no dream is too big or too wild. Remember in kindergarten when grown-ups asked what you wanted to be when you grew up and there wasn’t anything you couldn’t be? And changing your mind was no big whoop.

  Fast forward through elementary and high school. It’s senior year. You’re graduating; time to be pragmatic and driven. Time to be what you want to be. College begins after summer vacation and real life begins after college. Right? Well, maybe for some. But the straight and steady path leading from college to career is scenic for some and challenging for others.

 Meet the following college graduates: Rachael Smith, Alan Parker and Steve Hartmann.

Smith, 29, has a B.A. in English. Parker, 37, has a bachelor’s in Fine Arts (painting) and a master’s in Parks, Recreation and Tourism. Hartmann, 44, has an A.A. in Behavioral Studies.

They went to college. They worked in their fields. They reevaluated. Now what? Continue to work assorted jobs? Stay in a soul-sucking sector of the job market? Maybe try again? These reentry students opt for the latter. They’re in college. Again.

Take a look around; not all classmates are recent high school graduates. According to statistics on the SRJC website, the mean age on campus is 37, and of the 36,000 students attending, last year 10,000 were prospective and reentry students over the age of 25.

With a B.A. in English, Smith worked for wineries doing sales, promotion, advertising and event coordination. The writing skills she developed in college, she says, contributed immensely to her success.

After college graduation, Smith spent five years doing the work she thought she wanted to do and had no idea that someday she might completely change tracks. No single event led her to change careers, but she is now in the nursing program. Work experience after college helped redirect her. “Experience opened my eyes to a profession I’ll be better suited for that will also be more fulfilling,” Smith said.

Similarly, Parker returned this semester and is headed toward health care. “[At this point in life] I pictured myself famous in some aspect. It’s weird; I have always felt like I had that capacity within myself. I wanted several things over the years. Now I just want to move on from my current work and make better pay,” Parker said.

Despite two degrees, Parker contends with lack of work opportunities in both of his fields. When he finishes at the SRJC he will have a certificate in Ultrasound Technology and the opportunity to spring into what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls one of the most promising fields: health care.

He advises first-time college students, “Choose your career path wisely. Look at the shifting trends and what will be needed in the future. There is nothing worse than doing a lot of study and not finding gainful employment in your chosen field. Work hard for what you want though, and don’t stop until you get it.”

Hartmann returned to the JC to obtain a vocational degree in Phlebotomy and is learning how to take blood. This, he feels, is the first rung of his professional ladder that will lead to a lifetime of personal growth and workplace security.

He decided to go back to school after working as a physical therapy aide. “I found the prestige and respectability of being a healthcare professional very pleasing to me. I recognized a very satisfying motivation of coaching people back to health as a feeling incomparable to money. I was and still am, very good at what I do and I feel I continue to grow in my effectiveness with each class I take,” Hartmann said.

When he began college in 1984, he pictured himself as an author or celebrity. “Perhaps I thought I might make a great performing singer or actor…definitely thought I’d have finished my schooling by age 40,” he said.

Hartmann’s advice passed down from his dad: Go to school. “(An education) is something no man, no bank and no employer can take away from you.”

The thing about decisions is that you get to keep making them. The thing about college is you can always go back. If you first get a BA in underwater basket weaving and you find yourself uninspired and underpaid, guess what? You change. Life circumstances change. You get to make new decisions that best fit your life.

“Trust your instincts about the pursuit you’re well suited for. If what you’re majoring in doesn’t fit anymore, change it. It’s your life. College is where you really get a chance to take hold of the rudder and steer your own course. In the end, what you do needs to be for you,” Smith advises.

Counseling Department: (707) 527-4451 or visit Bertolini Student Center, 2nd Floor.