Thinking About the Future

With the first day of teaching under my belt, I finally feel that the summer is beginning to move in a productive direction. I’ve been spending more time online scouring the infinite database that is the internet, searching for perspective graduate PhD programs that I might be interested in pursuing. For the longest time I was sure that I had wanted to go into the Education field, and then Hospitality Management/Marketing. But now, doing all this research towards my thesis is making me realize that I picked my major for a good reason – I love it! And if I love it so much and have so many great opportunities out there waiting for me, why bother searching for a graduate program that will bring me monetary success?

Wellllll… I’m sure I can end up just as accomplished in the field of Anthropology as in any other (it’s all very subjective anyway). So, I’m pretty positive that I’m going to pursue a PhD in Anthropology after leaving Bryn Mawr. A PhD was always my goal to begin with: I’ll get more chances to see and understand the unbounded cultures of the world. Go places, work under amazing professors – who wouldn’t want that chance? Of course I’ll always want my home to be in the Philadelphia regional area, but who knows what direction a PhD might take me in. I might move in with Australian pygmies. Or write a controversial book about coming of age in a small island community in the Pacific. Oh, wait, that’s already been done.

Actually, I just want to get a vanity license plate that says “DR WENK.”

For serious though, this project that I am undertaking as an undergraduate is really helping me formulate ideas about what I can do and acheive. I’m reading countless articles to the point that my eyes begin to blurr over and I’m rereading the same line for the tenth time – but the process is great, and not just complimentary but necessary to the next steps I’ll be taking “out in the wild.” I’m not afraid to work hard to get where I want to be professionally and I’m not afraid of new experiences. In fact, I thrive on them: if I had kept my life static and continued on with the same old, same old I never would have gotten to the point where I am today. Sometimes I think that’s the greatest trouble that people young people face today: they simply aren’t motivated to take the initive to expose themselves to a lot more than what is in their everyday bubble. A lot of dislikes and aversities stem from this and are formed around misunderstandings or maleducation.

I’d be happy if I can do something to bring education and cultural significance and competence to light, and I think Anthropology is the perfect profession to initiate these changes.