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Follow Your Own Timeline for Career and Academic Success
By Mira Radovich, Senior Contributing Writer
Last fall, six Rio Salado students took part in a career information journey as part of the college’s partnership with Roadtrip Nation to help answer that age-old question, “What should I do with my life?”
Students met and interviewed successful college alumni and former students to get advice and learn about different careers and industries.
For criminal justice student Mairzey Nevin, taking part in the project not only helped reinforce her study path, but also created a new-found self-awareness and belief in herself.
“There’s a lot of decisions I feel like I have to make, and I don’t quite know where I’m going to go with that yet,” Nevin said. “I could be a police officer, a corrections officer or I could be a victim’s advocate.”
To help her explore her career options, Nevin interviewed Rio Salado alum Greg Wright, 53, a sergeant with the Dallas College Police Department who earned an associate degree in law enforcement technology from Rio Salado late in his career.
“I was the oldest of three kids and was raised by a single mom,” Wright said. “As the oldest, I had to help out. So, I started working with the grocery store when I was 15 years old. I moved up and eventually made system manager and then manager and got my own store.”
After 23 years in the grocery business, a family tragedy made Wright take stock of his life.
“My brother was killed in a car accident, and something we always talked about was my dream of being a police officer,” Wright said. “After he died, I just decided I’m gonna go for it. And the next day I went and talked to the guys at the police academy.”
Wright’s desire to enter law enforcement stems from a desire to help.
“People get into law enforcement because they want to help people, not for the money,” Wright said. “It’s because I have a natural ability of wanting to help somebody, and I know I can.”
Nevin shares the same passion.
“Over the last couple years, I’ve had personal experiences with sexual harassment and abuse,” Nevin said. “Things like that have impacted my life in a way that makes me want to help people when they’re going through something similar.”
While she’s sure her career path is in the right general area, Nevin has had doubts about how long it is taking her to make it happen.
“Something that I’m struggling with is this is the year all my friends are in their senior year of college,” Nevin said. “It seems like people my own age know exactly what they want to do or have these jobs set up and their careers ready to go.”
Wright advised Nevin to be true to her own timeline.
“Everybody has their own time they are supposed to do things,” Wright said. “You’re not behind. You’re doing it at your pace, based on your life, your experiences and what you went through.
He also advised against making peer comparisons.
“Don’t worry about trying to catch up and run the race with your classmates,” Wright said. “You might go a lot further than them. You might get your bachelor’s later. Then you might pass them getting your master’s degree. You never know where life takes you.”
The biggest takeaway Nevin got from her interview with Wright was confidence.
“This opportunity gave me the reassurance and ability to just let myself live life instead of rushing or feeling bad that I haven’t made all of these decisions yet,” Nevin said. “I feel like in whatever career I decide, I just want to help people and use my experiences to do that.”