By Maxine Eichen
Since I was five my entire life has revolved around horses. It is safe to say that the majority of my days have been spent in a dusty barn, brushing and fawning over ponies and horses, and on the backs of these animals, jumping fences and perfecting equitation. I’ve been to more competitions than high school parties and have shared more secrets with four-legged friends than two-legged ones.
When the time came for me to choose a career path and college major my junior year of high school, an absurd practice that should be avoided at all costs, becoming an equine veterinarian seemed like the perfect choice.
As I was writing out my application essays that were meant to reflect the reasons for my choice I daydreamed about how I would spend the rest of my life frolicking with ponies and giving check-ups to Olympic athletes. It was what I saw my trainers do every day, so why would it be any different for me? Nine months later, my mother dropped me off at a small school in Pennsylvania where I was to begin my studies as an equine science pre-veterinary medicine major.
The first day of classes came and went and I found myself knee deep in horse manure and mud. This was a far cry from the cushy Grand Prix level barns I had grown up in. Another day of classes had me learning about artificial insemination and methods of euthanization. The harsh reality of the life of a veterinarian began to set in and lead me to the conclusion that I made a huge mistake.
I hated every class in my schedule and grew pretty miserable over the course of the first semester. I knew I was going to change my major but I first needed to finish out my freshman year to build a solid transfer application. With that in mind, I had to find something to keep me happy while I was there.
I thought about what I enjoyed doing and immediately came up with writing. Aside from riding, literature has always been my escape from whatever life throws at me. I couldn’t exactly bring a horse to college, so I did the next best thing and walked into the school’s newspaper office. The newspaper quickly became my solace and freshman year got a whole lot better. I wrote a bit and ended up as the copy editor for the paper. This also led me to the position of resident paper writer and I made a nice chunk of change fulfilling general education requirements for dairy science majors with $20 analytical essays.
I survived my freshman year unscathed and left with a few good friends and a very clear idea of what I did not want to do for a living. However, I was back to the beginning. What the hell am I going to do with my life? I started answering that question first by applying to Central Connecticut State University. CCSU seemed to fit the bill because of the level of education received in comparison to the price for in-state tuition and the fact that I could pretty much major in anything.
My summer was spent pondering what I wanted in life. Horse trainers make about minimum wage once living expenses are accounted for and vets spend their days knee deep in poop and mud. One thought lead to another and literature came up again. I love writing and reading almost as much as riding, so it began to fall into place.
There aren’t many jobs that allow you to simply read fiction for a living, but there is an entire industry devoted to the delivery of it. I have decided that I want to work in publishing. The sense of empowerment I get from simply working on the school paper that produces a handful of pages of material is pretty invigorating, so the thought of being able to pick and choose what complete works of literature are important enough to expose to the public made me excited. I declared my management major and built a schedule I like.
How The Recorder plays into this is pretty obvious. Not only do I thoroughly enjoy my position as copy editor, thanks to the great writers and editors on the paper, but I need it to pad my resume.
Everyone always tells us college kids to do what we love. Well, sometimes that doesn’t always work out. Sometimes you have to do something else you really like a lot so that you can have the money to do what you love, like ride insanely expensive horses. I may not end up frolicking with ponies for a living, but I’m doing the next best thing and I know I’ll have the coolest hobby in the office.