These are just some of the powerful words Landmark College alumna 童子军 macachron ' 12 shared with new students in January 2015, 当她在毕业典礼上做主旨演讲时. It was an invaluable opportunity for 童子军 to come back and give back to Landmark College’s newest Sharks.
After graduating from Landmark in Spring 2012 with her associate degree, 童子军 transferred to Barnard College (Columbia University) in New York City, 得B.A. 2014年12月. Soon after, she was hired as an assistant producer by NBC News.
童子军 discovered her passion for journalism while she was a student at Landmark College, 她参加了戏剧表演, 体育运动, 志愿者工作, 和《亚洲博彩平台排名》, 我们的学生报纸, 她是执行主编. 童子军 also wrote and 太k photographs for the Brattleboro Commons. This, combined with her work on campus, cemented her desire for a career in journalism. 自从搬到纽约后, 童子军 has interned at Education Update (founded by Pola Rosen, a former member of the Landmark College Board of Trustees), 好管家, 《亚洲最大体育平台》杂志, and NBC’s Broadcast News division (“NBC Nightly News” and “Dateline”). 她在电子蛋黄传媒做兼职, 一家位于布鲁克林的制作公司, 并为各种博客和网站撰稿.
This is the story 童子军 shared with new Landmark College students at convocation in January 2015:
“I remember sitting where you are, watching some Landmark alumni I didn’t know give this speech. 我在想两件事. 第一个是“听着鼓舞人心的演讲。.’ And the second was, ‘That’ll be me some day…’ I was right, on both counts!
我在这里的原因, the reason I just graduated from college after seven years of trying, and the reason I’m pursuing a career I love is because of hard… you thought I was going to say hard work, 你没? I bet that your whole life people have told you all it takes to succeed is hard work, right? 成绩不好? 找不到工作? 更努力的工作. 你知道这是B.S. 这需要的不仅仅是努力工作. 我在这里的原因, the real reason, is because this place taught me how to believe in myself. I left Landmark feeling like I had a place the world. 我有东西可以贡献. I wasn’t just someone sitting on the sidelines anymore.
如果你愿意，Landmark也会帮你. A lot of us come here from a place where we’ve been told that we’re not good enough. 我们的失败. 我们是愚蠢的. 我们懒惰. 我们注定要失败. That’s not true—and even if you don’t believe that about yourself now, you will. No matter how you imagine yourself 20 years from now—a video game creator, 一个记者, a chef—whatever it is you see when you fantasize about your future, 从这里开始.
看看周围. 和你坐在一起的人——老师们, 管理员, 员工们——他们已经信任你了, 他们甚至不认识你. They chose to be here, and it’s not just that they love rural Vermont. 他们相信我们这样的人, 有ld的人, 学习方式不同的人, people who go through life on a different schedule than everyone else, 这就是他们在这里的原因. You are going to meet some of the most amazing and supportive people in the world. 不要把他们推开.
The first key to succeeding here is accepting help, even if you don’t want it or don’t think you need it. 是否以顾问的形式提供帮助, 一位教授, 学习小组, 办公时间, 甚至是去DCAS, 把它. 你会慢慢学会的. And you’ll start to realize that you can do the things you didn’t think you could. And that you’re worth the time and work it takes to do them. It can be really hard to want to succeed if you don’t think you deserve it. Which is why as important as the skills you’re going to learn are, what you’ll feel because of having them is more important. 这是信心.
我在这里发现了我对新闻的热情, and I’ve had countless friends discover what it is they want to do while here. 我不认为这只是巧合. It’s almost impossible to figure out what you love and what you want to do when you think your options are limited by what you can and can’t do. Landmark will give you the skills and the support you need to realize that you can do anything.
这并不容易. 这并不总是有趣的. There are going to be times when you want to give up, and there are going to be times when you do give up. But that’s another great thing about Landmark: you’ll learn that just because you give up one day it doesn’t mean that your week, 或每月, 甚至一年都值得放弃, 太.
There are going to be distractions—this is a college, after all. But don’t let those things distract you so much that you forget what this place can offer you. 这是你的机会. You will never find yourself in a place like this again. 我向你保证. You will never be surrounded by peers who truly understand what you’ve gone through and teachers that truly believe in you. 不要浪费时间. 因为这对你自己不公平. 这是你应得的. 享受它.
Landmark changed my life, and it will change yours if you let it.”
童子军的12