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"You work at The Hatchet - are you a journalism major?"
"No, I am actually majoring in Spanish language and literature."
"Oh, so do you want to go into international affairs or teach Spanish?"
"No, I am actually pre-med."
"Huh?"
Anyone who knows me is aware that I like to have a plan for everything that I do. I plan my days and weeks to make the most efficient use of my time, and I constantly think about the next steps. I arrived at The George Washington University, however, with just one plan: to be accepted to medical school.
Other than this goal, my college experience was completely up for grabs. I had no plan about what I would become involved in, what classes I would take and who I would hang out with. But everything just seemed to fall into place, and activities and projects simply popped up out of nowhere. For example, one day my friend, Lauren, and I ran a race for mental health and thought that it would be great to hold a similar event for the GW community. Five months later, it happened.
At the start of my senior year, I told myself that I would not become so busy, but then that perfect internship came along, and then that great research opportunity and then ... oops.
Working at The Hatchet was certainly not planned. Sure, I was an editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, but with organic chemistry and hours of hospital volunteering before me, I never thought I would be able to put so much time and energy into something that was not related to medicine and healthcare.
Yet when my friend Jenny Dierdorff, production manager of The Hatchet, suggested during my freshman year that I start training in layout and design, I could not resist the urge to become involved in something that I had always enjoyed in the past and that seemed to be such an important part of the GW community. When Jenny passed away two weeks later, I was in shock. However, I was immediately called upon to join The Hatchet's staff in the production of the next day's issue. The strength of the staff and its commitment to the newspaper was so impressive that I knew I had to stay. More than three years later, I am still a proud member of The Hatchet's production team.
