How Identity Has Influenced A Project Coordinator's Career At Legal Aid San Mateo
Maraina, a Project Coordinator, advises students to "study what you're interested in," citing their own diverse college experience with a religion double major and eclectic electives as unexpectedly beneficial to their career. This broad educational foundation, encompassing subjects like Russian literature and conspiracy theories, fostered critical thinking and connection-building skills, proving more valuable than a strictly career-focused path.
Interdisciplinary Studies, Curiosity, Broad Knowledge Base, Critical Thinking, Communication Skills
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Maraina Weyl
Project Coordinator
The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
Syracuse University
Santa Clara University School of Education and Counseling Psychology- M.A. Counseling
International Relations & Affairs
Government & Public Sector, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Consulting
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Worked 20+ Hours in School, LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Explore diverse subjects: Maraina suggests studying subjects that genuinely interest you, even if they don't seem directly career-related. A broad education can lead to unexpected connections and skills.
2. Embrace diverse learning experiences: She emphasizes the value of taking a variety of classes, even seemingly unrelated ones, to broaden your knowledge base and enhance your ability to connect with people from different backgrounds.
3. Focus on genuine interest over direct career path: Maraina’s personal experience shows that a degree in a seemingly unrelated field (Religion) didn't hinder her career success. This highlights the importance of finding a field you're passionate about.
Transcript
What did you do in college to set you up for success in your career?
This may be an unpopular answer, but it's the truth. I think you should study what you want to study, what you're interested in, not something that you think necessarily might follow a career path for you.
Like I said, I ended up with a religion double major; I never would've thought that was going to happen to me. I'm not a religious person. It was just that I was interested in the relationship between religion and the IR major I already had.
I took the most ridiculous combination of classes for some of my electives because I wanted to soak things up and learn. I wanted to know about conspiracy theories; I wanted to know about Russian literature. I just wanted that information inside of me to be able to put things together later on if I needed to.
Now, not only am I good at Jeopardy, but I also think it gave me a wealth of non-sequitur experience that actually helps me. Studying Spanish helps me because, in a literal sense, I get to use it at work. But with some of the other things I've done, I just know things and can have conversations and make connections with people about things that, had I strictly stayed on one path in school and not veered off, I wouldn't be able to do.
So, do what feels good to you. Learn what feels good to you, what feels interesting to you. Because it's undergrad, a lot of people are going to go off and get more degrees, and then you can kind of narrow it down and zone in on one particular topic.
I don't think necessarily that you need to have a degree in the thing that you're going to do. I don't, and I'm doing great. So, just enjoy school. That's my advice.