Your Career and You: "Don't Settle...Make Your Parents Proud"

Each year I have the pleasure of participating in Curry College’s “Awards Ceremony.” The student superstars in each academic department receive well-deserved public recognition for their scholastic and extra-curricular activities, and we faculty members get to sing their praises.

I was able to highlight the accomplishments of one of my own Public Relations Concentration “troops,” a young lady named Erika Kuzmicz who, to me, personifies the best of the best in up-and-coming public relations professionals.

Erika came cautiously into my “world,” tentatively taking introductory PR courses and then moving confidently into the “deep end” with advanced courses and internships…three internships, to be exact.

But this is/was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg…

· Communication major with PR concentration; double minor in English and Management

· Member, Lambda Chi Chapter of the National Communication Association’s Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society

· Immediate Past President of the Curry College Public Relations Student Association

She wrapped up her scholastic requirements in December 2011, a semester early, and segued immediately at the beginning of this year into a full-time position as Account Coordinator at The Castle Group, a great PR firm based here in Boston.

I had a chance to chat with her parents both before and after the Awards Ceremony, and that experience made everything worthwhile.

The absolute glow of pride on both their faces told me that this was what had been their dream for their daughter…to see her on her way to a lifetime of success…due in very large part to her own hard work and determination.

This, to me, is a major part of the puzzle called “growing up.” There are two parties, in my opinion, that have to be satisfied in the process…yourself, first and foremost, and your parents.

You will be your toughest critic because you, better than anyone else, know yourself…your strengths, your weaknesses…likes, dislikes, favorite flavor of ice cream.

But your parents see in you their dreams and aspirations. They believe you are capable of just about anything. And their joy in your accomplishments is without limits.

So don’t settle…stretch yourself…take on the challenge that scares you just a bit…that tests your abilities…your knowledge…your patience. And in the process, do great things!

Make yourself…and your parents…proud!

“For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and silences of night.” – Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet” [1923]