Friday night I attended a dinner in honor of my peers who had great success in academics, service, and extracurricular activities during their four years of college. Although I did not apply to be considered for the program, it made me realize the great company I have found at Villanova.
The peers I am surrounded by do extremely well at school (four honored had above a 3.9 GPA!), participate in activities outside of their classes, and care greatly about the world. With these Wildcats leading the way, things happen on campus. The largest student run Special Olympics program occurs every year with only few glitches. Many have attended multiple Habitat for Humanity trips across the country, and mission trips across the world. I truly am proud to be included in such company.
I’ve heard a lot of talk in my Management courses around the Millennial Generation and how we typically need to be coddled at work, expect more leeway and time off, and our only benefits include being technically savvy and optimistic. Personally, I’ve found myself in great company at a great school. We may want some different things than the generations before us, like more work-life balance than our parents (hi Dad!), or opportunities to make a difference in the world, but that doesn’t mean we don’t work hard. Personally, I see the notion that we need to be coddled as a sort of confusion of asking lots of questions. I know that in my first internship experience, I was worried about messing up, so I asked a lot of questions to make sure I was doing it right. So sure, I may need a little coddling at first, but it’s just because I want to do my job right!
I also really want a work-life balance, as I’ve come to learn is possible from my time spent in Australia. As many of my peers have realized, other countries do things differently than we do. They have long lunches with wine, instead of half hour power lunches, and put ice cream in their iced coffees! Life just seems to move at a slower pace, not just because I felt like I was on vacation. Part of my time abroad was spend interning four days a week while taking a night class. It wasn’t always a walk in the park, but I felt like I still had time to spare and enjoy the relationships I had with other people. I would really like to continue that balance in my work life, doing things I love and getting the job done well.