My Career Essay: My Personal Career Path

Personal Career Path As a child, I can remember several careers that I dreamed of pursuing, an author and artist, an astronaut, a veterinarian and even an archaeologist. Growing up, I can remember being told “you can be whatever you want to be” or “the sky is the limit.” Now, that I’m in adulthood, I have come to realize these statements may mean well, but isn’t necessarily attainable for all. Growing up in central Appalachian, I wasn’t born with unlimited choices; poverty and the lack of resources made it difficult to reach the dreams I had as a child. Raised in a rural area, the careers that I became familiar with was homemaking, caretaking, logging and farming. I witnessed the majority of the women in my family to take on the career as

Not having anyone to look to as a mentor or for career and educational planning answers, I did not receive any guidance until high school. My friends were all planning on going to college and I could not be the only one to sit it out. Throughout high school their seemed to be this pressure for everyone to continue their education, through some sort of secondary education. As a freshman you were given the options of choosing specialty courses that could prepare you for employment after graduating high school. I choose to follow the route of the health science program. The program was to prepare myself for a successful transition from high school to postsecondary education or a career in the health care industry. We began taking field trips to colleges and college recruiters began coming and speaking to my class about all they had to offer. My senior year of high school, I passed my test to become a Certified Nursing Assistant and began doing an internship at the local rehabilitation center as an extra step of