Campus Resource Blog

A few weeks ago I made the decision one day when I got home somewhat earlier from work that I would go to school even earlier than I usually do to sit down with one of the campus guidance counselors to discuss my timeline to graduation in my degree. My current degree is one in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). Suffice to say, I do not like this trade and I do not desire to work at it for the rest of my life. For me, this is just something I have to do first before I can take the next step to achieving my goals and dreams.

It turns out that when I went to the student resources center, that counselors were having walk-in counseling all day. I lucked out because I had to get to class by 6:00 and it was already around 3:30 - 4:00. After stumbling around through the main building to find where all of the counselors were holding these walk-in hours, I was sent to meet a counselor whom I believe was named Tom (if he wasn't, we'll still refer to him as Tom).

Tom was incredibly helpful in helping me plot out and discover how and when I would be able to graduate and, as well, set out the entire class schedule for my whole next year of college until my graduation at the beginning of 2019.

That being said, I found myself telling Tom about how I disliked my degree and my job intensely, but that I still wanted to finish the degree to have something under my belt; something that I had finished for once. He was impressed and, I don't try to brag, but also astounded. I told him of my intentions to return to school immediately after finishing my first degree to begin working on my creative endeavors. He was fascinated that I had the patience to set up a fallback plan before chasing after my true desires with full force.

Tom gave me some advice on where I could start taking extra classes to begin dabbling in other fields that I would like, particularly in the animation and arts. He also told me of a few classes and other things I could do that would help bring me some notoriety with my writing as well.

All in all, I'm quite pleased and satisfied with the counselors of Northampton Community College. They understand that unlike full-time students, most of us are working hard to try and survive. Because of this, I find they try that little extra bit harder to help any student get an opportunity to pursue their dreams in-between the work they have to do to despite not wanting to.