The other day I had a chance to finally sit down and hang out with some friends who’ve recently graduated college and entered the work world. This is something that’s become increasingly difficult as (one would imagine), because schedules are all over the place; we are no longer confided to the same hourly schedules set within a semester system, with the same holiday breaks and seasonal time off. Nope. Instead one is working the standard 9-5 life, another is working peculiar hours for a start up, and another is working the nightlife (which dominates his weekends). Which left them a bit cross, because here I am: a college kid “on summer break” with the freedom do whatever whenever. Supposedly.
I took a sec to think about it before saying something like “Yeah it’s pretty great ain’t it?” Because that’s really not the case anymore. Yes if I was a kid in high school, I would be reveling in loads of free time. High school summers were dreamlands full of sunny days, where naps were plentiful and people were just generally carefree. My summers during my time at Georgia Tech have been anything but this though. My freshman summer I took summer classes, coached a swim team in Atlanta (twice a day mind you) and trained for the upcoming swim season; the sophomore summer consisted of more training while I worked for two start up companies; and this summer has been the most hectic by far because I’m working with the Technique, writing and doing photography for a website, working a retail gig a couple days a week, freelancing some services out to a couple marketing firms (one of them being a nightlife gig that sucked the life out of my weekends), and…O yeah…and training.
My time is every bit as packed as it is during the school, if not more so. There’s no way I’m the only one though. The things I see people doing at this school, and where they’re taking themselves when they’re not in class is incredible, if not a little daunting. The thing is, I feel like I have to do so many of these different things just to keep up with those of you who are killing it out there. The point being though, is that when we embark on this journey at Tech it’s not just a two semester gig we throw ourselves at for four plus years; no it’s a full time job that we bring with us wherever we go. Whenever we leave this campus, we take that Tech badge of pride with us and put it work to show the world, in at least some small fashion, that we’re going to be more than ready when our time here ends because summer “breaks” aren’t breaks at all.
I don’t feel like we’d be doing summer right if we weren’t working or bettering ourselves with something productive. Part of the reason Tech students are so well-known for their ability to crank out work, is because they really never stopped since the day they walked on campus. Which isn’t a bad thing, because hopefully we’re all doing something we love. I feel blessed to have all the responsibilities I do. It real does feel good knowing that “the real world” won’t kick us to the ground the second we get out, and for that I thank you Tech, because you’ve already done that for us and we are all getting back up just fine.