7/11: first try

At school, a lot of emphasis is being placed on helping students to think about their lives after college, especially since a liberal arts education doesn't necessarily point to a particular career path.  I worry about my ability to help students in this regard, since absolutely none of my academic training relates to career counseling.  But I love my advisees and really do want to help them think in concrete, productive, and unscary ways about themselves and what lies ahead.  So this summer I put together a packet of journal prompts and other activities that could be useful toward that end.  Although it's very much a work-in-progress which I hope to refine over the years, at least it's a start.  Today I sent it out to my advisees, and we'll see what they have to say about it.  Of course, I hope they find it useful, but for now I'm just glad that I did it.  I had been mulling it over for quite some time, but only now do I feel like I have enough experience with advising different kinds of students to pull together my suggestions and commit them to paper.