Hello!
My name is Erin Nelson, I am from
St. Joseph, MN, and I am halfway through my junior year. I am currently a
Marketing Major and am planning on having a career in business-to-business
sales. I started at SMSU as a freshmen and had the hardest time deciding what
to declare as my major. People told me to find something I enjoyed doing and
would want to do as a career, but I didn’t realize that finding the right
career path would be as challenging as it was. As my freshmen year of college
was approaching, and I had to register for my first classes, I decided to
declare myself as a Special Education major. I loved working with children when
I was younger, and I had a passion for helping people. Also, I felt that
Special Education would be the best fit for my personality.
My
freshmen year started, and I was enrolled in an Introduction to Education
class. The class was everything I had hoped for, and I am so thankful that I
had the opportunity to take an education class right away in my first semester
of school. During that first semester we were required to log hours in a
classroom for any grade we desired to someday teach. I was placed in a third
grade classroom and was assigned a student who I would then shadow throughout the
day. I did about 20 hours in that classroom helping with lesson plans, getting to
know the curriculum and doing projects with the kids. I learned so much in
those 20 hours, and I appreciated every minute with those children, but I
ultimately decided that teaching children was not the right career choice for
me.
By
taking that introduction class and putting in the classroom hours, I realized that
I worked better with adults than with children. I loved being in front of
groups, speaking, talking, and interacting, but I preferred my audience to be
adults rather than children. After I realized that education wasn’t the right
fit for me, I decided to go Undeclared for the second half of my freshmen year.
I ended up taking general classes for an entire semester until I could finally
find a new major that would direct me in a career I would love. I talked to the professors on campus and it was
recommended that I take a few marketing classes to see if that major would be a
better fit for my personality. In those marketing classes, I grew to love the
major and my professors. I had finally found my niche! I loved my sales
classes, the group discussions, the presentations, and the drive that I had
felt. I found a marketing advisor who would help me through my next few years
and decided to officially declare Marketing as my major. I have been a
marketing major for a year and a half now, and I have loved every class I’ve
been in. I am now another student who can honestly say that switching majors a
few times is completely normal. I wouldn’t love college as much as I do if I
would’ve settled for a major I didn’t have a passion for.
Your Success Story Begins at SMSU!
Erin Nelson
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