Have you ever heard the saying “it’s all about who you know?” Having connections or “ins” in various areas can benefit you in the long run. Let’s talk about networking. Networking by definition is the “action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.” Networking. All of the jobs that I have obtained during my collegiate career involved some form of networking. This doesn’t mean that you are taking a “short cut” or having an advantage over others, it simply means you are using the resources around you in a beneficial way.

Since meeting Meghan Maugans at Drexel University through our mutual sorority of Alpha Sigma Alpha, I have truly only known her to be an extremely hard worker in any situation that comes her way. Maugans is currently a 5th year senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After graduation, she hopes to land a job at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania working on any type of intensive care unit. Knowing Maugans personally and hearing stories of her talk about patients, I am certain that she will make a damn good nurse in the near future.

Behind every successful individual lies effective time management skills. We live in a society where there are deadlines for essentially everything. Naturally, I have always been an organized individual who enjoyed routine. Now that I am in my 5th year at Drexel, I can confidently say that one of the most valuable skills that I have strengthened during my time here is time management. I quickly learned that there is no time for mistakes or to mess around at a quarter system institution. Within a quick ten weeks, it is expected that you will balance a full course load of academics, a social life, incorporate time for physical activity, and be involved in clubs or organizations. So how do you balance all of this? 

Let’s discuss it with the “expert” …

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jake Muldoon, who is currently enrolled in Temple University’s Fox School of Business where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Like myself, Muldoon began college in 2018 with a very minimal idea of what major or career path he truly wanted to pursue. During his freshman and sophomore years he was an undecided major while he took classes to explore different possibilities. At the end of his sophomore year, he made the official switch to the Human Resources Management major in the Fox School of Business.(Fox School of Business Human Resources) Muldoon was scheduled to graduate this past May of 2022.

Growing up as the product of two parents who pursued careers in education, I always heard the word “grit” being tossed around in conversation.  A popular scholar by the name of Angela Duckworth has done extensive research focusing on grit. Duckworth describes “grit” as “the tendency to sustain interest in an effort toward very long-term goals” (Duckworth et al., 2007). For example, “grit” came up when my mom was talking about how she couldn’t understand why a student had a D in eighth grade English because they did not do anything all quarter. Or maybe when my dad was talking about how it was a tough day at work because one of his students wasn’t going to make it at the University. When I heard them discussing situations like this, they always explained to me that having so-called “grit” was the ability to know that it’s completely okay to make a mistake; however, it is how you deal with the mistake that sets apart the individuals who have “grit” and those who do not.