CAREER SERVICES AT ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE | SANTA FE | MARCH 2013
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND STAYING IN SANTA FE VALERIE BLOMBERG (SF12)
SUMMERTIME IN SANTA FE LEARNING “CHINA” CAMILLE BYRNE (SF14)
APPLYING TO THE PEACE CORPS WHITNEY WILL (SF13)
JUNIORS: SUMMER PREPARATION INTERNSHIPS & OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
A Santa Fe mural.
Staying in Santa Fe Valerie Blomberg (SF12)
Career Services Office Contact: Career Services 505-984-6066 Fax 505-984-6167 Web address: www.stjohnscollege. edu/admin/SF/career.shtml AGORA: www.myinterfase.com/sjcsf/student Facebook: www.facebook.com/sjcsf careerservices Email: careerservices@sjcsf.edu Office located in the basement of Weigle Hall, Room 13
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. or by appointment Career Services Staff: Margaret Odell Director Barbara Lucero Sand Assistant Director Chelsea Allen Internship Coordinator Christine Kng Publications Editor Allen Matsika Research Assistant Melissa Latham-Stevens Art Director
I had some classmates at St. John’s who worked really hard. I don’t just mean in academics, or a tenhour-per-week campus job. I had classmates who worked multiple part-time jobs in addition to class, devoting all their time and energy to their work and their academics. They seemed, to the rest of us, antisocial. I continue to believe that St. John’s is the best education. I tell everyone I can about the college and the wonderful things we do. I especially tell people that at St. John’s, we are free to think for ourselves. But St. John’s only partially prepared me for being an adult, with responsibilities in the money-driven real world. I remember those few classmates who seemed antisocial in college, and I wonder if some of the experiences I’ve had in the past year would have come as less of a shock if I had achieved even a little bit of their financial independence while I was in school. In one year, I have begun a new job hunt four times. It is easy to take it personally and to wonder if there’s something wrong with me, or to shake my fist at America, our crummy economy, or at the world. The truth is that I’ve been blessed with some amazing opportunities and two or three fantastic mentors, but a full-time 9-5 job isn’t the norm anymore, and our expectations as a generation have to be adjusted accordingly. Unusual, freelance, and odd-hours jobs are becoming normal, and especially in Santa Fe where the minimum wage is uncomfortably high for most employers to match, and most of the available jobs are in government and the service industry. I didn’t know that I would stay in Santa Fe after the summer. I knew that if I left at graduation, my heart would break. The sunshine and the mountains nourish me emotionally, and the church community I found at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church on Cordova Road nourishes me spiritually. You’ve heard it from your friends. Santa Fe is an extraordinary place to be in the summer. The International Folk Art Market was the highlight, for me, but there were also trips to hot springs and hidden canyons, free concerts and art festivals at the Railyard, and a sense of community wherever I turned. Every day, sunshine, and every evening, a brilliant sunset over the mountains and stars to crown my city. We face so much uncertainty when we graduate. I admire the few Johnnies who have the presence of mind, and the smarts, to plan out their next step, whether they go to graduate school, travel abroad, or 1