A Weekend for Reflection

It is Memorial Day and our summer in DC is officially off to a fantastic start! My name is Mariana Eraña Salmerón and I am a rising junior studying French and Global Studies (Europe). I am part of the Leadership and Community Engagement Summer Institute and I will be updating you on our time with William & Mary here in DC.

This weekend has been our break between the end of our first two weeks of classes composed of site visits all around the city, and the start of our internships. As I walked around Chinatown with one of my friends, we talked about how fast time is passing: 2 weeks down; 10 to go. It is a mix of excitement and uneasiness as we get our clothes and portfolios ready for the first day of work, figure out our own schedules and our own ways through the metro, and so on. However, the people we met throughout these two weeks certainly have inspired us to embrace the uncertainty and take advantage of the position we find ourselves in.

One of the most impactful lessons we learned during these two weeks: careers are non-linear and starting without much experience in a new job can be transformed into an asset.

Hearing this from the young alumni to founders of nonprofits to figures in the political world prompted us all to sigh in relief. It certainly is not what is in the mind of college students; in fact, we just want to know exactly what we will be doing post-grad for the next 20 years.

While that feeling of urgency to know what the future holds remains in the back of my mind, I am choosing to step into my internship Tuesday morning with an open mind. I hope that with this mindset we will be able to employ the wisdom these experienced professionals have shared with us, and let our own creativity flourish.

Stay tuned for how we are conquering the professional world throughout our first week!

Thank you for reading,
Mariana