Chosen Career
 

I was asking myself the other day how do the younger generation choose their professions nowadays. Some take years to finish college and have more than one degree and still cant find gainful employment.
When I was younger I knew I wanted to be a nurse. I always gravitated toward Science and healing. So I wonder with current board members, how did you become what you are? Are you doing something you always wanted to do or did you change in midstream and are now doing something you never thought you would be doing?

All my schooling life I either wanted to be a nurse or a teacher. I settled for teacher after having a difficult time in a chemistry class. I retired from teaching 9 years ago.

I first became a teacher because that's what my parents expected of me. According to all my performance reviews, I was a good teacher, but my heart was never in it. Because my DH and I moved frequently early in his career, I took a tax class so that I knew how to handle all the moves, house sales, etc. for tax purposes. That led to working for a tax firm, and then a CPA firm. I took enough classes to sit for the CPA exam. I was 43 when I started working as an accountant for a large financial services firm. I loved it! I wish I had started in accounting, but I went to a small rural high school and didn't even know what an accountant was. The girls in my high school graduating class either married, or became secretaries, nurses, or teachers.

It seems a lot of them find the work they love the same way quilt1950 did... not by planning but a little bit by accident. My daughter started off teaching and now works for Allstate as a wholesale agent for the western half of Tenn. My son loved to play his guitar, so he went to music college and got a degree as a music minister... and worked as worship leader in a big church. He loved to dabble in video and editing so he soon became the head of videography in the church, as that need was greater. Now he has his own film company and does things for HBO, Oprah Winfrey and many other big muckety mucks. He certainly never knew he would go in that direction as a teenager. Youngest son always loved virtual flight games on the computer, and he went to school for flying and became a pilot. He also studied drone flight while in school, and ended up in Jordan, mapping with drones for the military. You never know where life will lead you.

what a beautiful cat!!!!

i fell thru the cracks at my high school. no guidance in professions at my school for me.
i wanted to be a sewing teacher, but my parents did not encourage me to go to college at all.

I have loved math since I was in 8th grade. In high school I had some math teachers who encouraged me to think about teaching math. I went to the only college I applied to and was hired right out of college to teach. 2 1/2 years ago I retired after 38 years in the same building. Since then I have been teaching a couple of classes at a college in town along with costuming at the local high school.

I wanted to be a veterinarian. I was always rescuing little birds and animals. I ended up going into nursing and loved it. I worked from 1981 until 2013.

Before graduating HS, My mother recommended I find employment with a public utility for the retirement and benefits; however, I wanted to be a psychologist. Instead, I followed her lead and worked for the phone company then water company for 35 years. Before retiring in 2011, I returned to school and earned my BS and MS in Counseling psychology. Post retirement career is licensed Marriage & Family Therapist specializing in trauma counseling. I don't need the money because my mom was right, but I work with veterans and adult survivors of childhood abuse and LOVE my work. I only work a couple of days a week and quilt the other days. Best of both worlds...

Lynnie....so many kids fell thru the cracks when I went to school too.... I'm not sure it's much better today for youth.

I always wanted to be a bookkeeper or accountant. That is what I did in my career at the Phone Company and also a Computer Company for 21 yrs. I also had my own tax business and accounting business for 8 years after that. So I guess I did what I wanted to do.