The College META MORPHOSIS - personal identity and achievement

Careers and Colleges, March, 2001 by Jean Ann Cantore

After high school, students often transform themselves and become what they really want to be.

College is a time to test your wings and to find out where your niche is. Sometimes getting into a new environment where you can recreate yourself is just the boost you need to become really successful.

"Students have a new opportunity when they come to college," says Tim Massie, chief college relations officer at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. "They can leave behind family, friends, and whatever reputation they may have had in high school. They really have an opportunity to be themselves.

"We had one student with a beautiful voice who was never involved with theater. His friends encouraged him to try out for the lead in West Side Story. He got the part and brought down the house. The experience broadened his horizons and boosted his confidence. He did something he thought he couldn't do."

The following four college students not only have discovered ways to spend their rime constructively outside of the classroom, but they also have found activities that will put them on career paths best suited for them. For these students, college is more than a place to earn an education; it's a bridge to the future.

From Follower to Leader

At Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School in Washington, Georgia, Anna Stover always felt she was more of a follower than a leader.

"I joined a lot of clubs because my friends did," she says. "Also, my mom is the head of several public libraries, and my dad works for Georgia's Department of Transportation. People always referred to me as 'their daughter' rather than as my own person.

When Stover completed high school, she decided to attend her mother's alma mater, Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. She didn't know what she wanted to do with her life when she enrolled, but it did not rake long to find her niche as a leader and educator.

Stover's involvement with Delta Zeta introduced her to community service, and she was elected chairperson of philanthropy for three consecutive years--the first time any member had served in that office for that long. She was even nominated for Greek Woman of the Year at the college because of her hard work.

"I changed the philosophy of our sorority's philanthropy," she says. "They were already involved in community service, but I had more ideas for working with children. The sorority was active with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, but I got them even more involved. I starred the Big Brothers/Big Sisters 'Learn to Swim' program."

While Stover enjoyed her work with children, she also enjoyed her classes and began to realize that she wanted to become a teacher. She completed her bachelor's degree in history and immediately began working on her master's degree in teaching.

Stover looks forward to teaching high school history and coaching softball, volleyball, and track.

"I feel that in college I blossomed as a leader and stopped being a follower as I had been in high school," Stover says. "I hope I can help young people to develop their leadership skills earlier than I did."

An Enterprising Education

Tariq Tutson always had a bit of the entrepreneurial spirit in her, whether she was running the dance ministry through her church in Pittsburgh or working to form a dance company with four friends. But it wasn't until Tutson went off to college that she got the chance to fully explore her interest in business and pick up some extra cash, too.

As a freshman at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Tutson not only kept up with her classes in international business and political science, she also maintained her own business--a mail-order school supply company called S.S. Kits.

The seeds for S.S. Kits were planted when, during high school, Tutson enrolled in a summer program sponsored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). As a final project, students in the program were required to develop a plan for a business.

"I had to come up with something to sell," says Tutson. "I thought school supplies would be good because everybody buys them, but I had to come up with a unique approach. I decided that selling backpacks with all the supplies (like pencils, pens, highlighters, and notebooks) in them for one price would work."

Tutson decided to turn her plan on paper into a reality, and it became a thriving business.

"S.S. Kits is my first business venture," says Tutson, a graduate of the Pittsburgh High School for Creative and Performing Arts. "I think having my own business has taught me to think creatively in problem-solving."

That kind of creative thinking will certainly come in handy for Tutson. She is considering getting a master's degree in public policy and then joining the Foreign Service, and perhaps ultimately becoming a U.S. ambassador. "I also hope to own my own musical theater and dance company," says Tutson. "In my wildest dreams, I never thought I'd become an entrepreneur, but going to college is making more of my dreams become realities."