Every semester, beginning on the first day of school, the graduating students of California Baptist University prepare for one road to end and another to begin.
From the first day of school the offices are filled with the students requesting application forms, making sure classes are in order, getting financial aid squared away and waiting to hear from possible employers or graduate universities for credentialing programs and masters programs.
As the days start to pass by and the time comes closer, excitement begins to build especially since graduation is less than three months away.
Elizabeth Hild, a liberal studies major with a concentration in early childhood development, is looking forward to graduating and the new season that it brings.
“I’m really excited. It’s kind of bittersweet because CBU is such a cool place and neat community. I’ve been here all four years and lived on campus all four years and been involved with different things and made lots of friends and memories,” Hild said.
Hild feels bittersweet about graduating. She will miss CBU and her friends but she knows there is a time to move on.
“I’m ready. I feel like it’s been a great experience and it’s prepared me for my next stage in life,” Hild said.
Hild is one of the few students on campus that does bit automatically have to start job searching once they graduate. She already knows where she will be going.
“I have a job waiting for me when I graduate that is in the Children’s Ministry Department at Antioch Church in Bend, Oregon so I will be teaching children just not in school, I’ll teach in the church.”
Jourdon Glasper, a bachelor of applied theology major, is also looking forward to life after college.
“My major is designed to train vocational ministry. My goal is to become a senior pastor somewhere but after college I am going to become a military chaplain and in order to become a military chaplain you need to go to seminary,” Glasper said.
“The seminary that I hope to get into is Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wakeforest, North Carolina. It will get me the experience that I need to become an effective pastor.”
History and political science double major April Martin has a few ideas of what she wants to do after college and it starts with getting into a credentialing program.
“I applied here at California Baptist University and I am also applying to Simpson University in Redding, California,” Martin said. “I want to teach high school or maybe even university so after my credential I want to get my Master’s degree and maybe even my doctorate. I really want to go abroad while studying but I’m just going to have to wait and see what happens. I like history and I just really want to inspire the same interest in others.”
Some advice from Glasper really keeps things in perspective for graduating seniors that have it all planned out and for others that have no clue what they are doing after college.
“It may or may not work out that you have your dream job right after college, sometimes it just doesn’t happen that way, but if you continue to be proactive toward that, and even if you don’t get your dream job right away, you still have something to work toward,” Glasper said. “Don’t give up just because college is over. Just keep going and keep at your dreams.”
