PART ONE

by JENNIFER HA

As a fifth year, I’ve found that small talk as a university student typically follows this tedious and slightly panicked pattern: name, hometown, major, and future plans. While I usually try to divert the conversation by bringing up horoscopes (happy Scorpio season!), I still find myself having to answer the dreaded question of “what are your plans after you graduate?” on too regular of a basis. Filled with doubts and hope, I sought out recent Augustana graduates to see where our liberal arts degrees can take us.

I asked them the following questions:

What are you doing now that you have graduated from Augustana?

What were your graduation plans upon entering university? Did they change by the time you graduated? If so, how? 

What are your plans now?

What do you miss most about Augustana/Camrose?

Thankfully, I found that if you work hard enough, your University of Alberta Augustana Faculty degree can take you all sorts of places, from academia to entrepreneurship, from Camrose to China.

Natasha Hepp – Bachelor of Management, Class of 2016

1. I am a first year law student at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.
2. My plans at the beginning of my university degree were to become a lawyer or a university professor.
3. My plans now are to finish my law degree and enter private practice. However, I’m already debating a career in academia as a law professor.
4. All the amazing people I met during my time there! After four years, it definitely felt like moving away from home again. I also really miss cafe egg buns….

Kelaine Brand – Bachelor of Science, Class of 2015

1. I am currently Augustana’s Community Education and Summer Programming Co-ordinator (until October 21) but will be changing things up soon to manage my small business, The Escape Squad, with my partner and work part-time in Augustana Conference Services.
2. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do when I started University at Augustana. Five and a half years later, I’m still in the same boat! But I always knew I wanted to have some flexibility with my work schedule, and that I wanted to be working on different things everyday, so at least I have those.
3. Now that I’ll have a bit more time on my hands I want to expand The Escape Squad’s live-action experience into secondary education by creating hands-on, immersive game scenarios that revolve around core curriculum, and delivering those games in high schools to get students more engaged in what they’re learning.
4. It has been a year and a half since I graduated but I’m still working at Augustana and living in Camrose. I guess I didn’t really leave! But I do miss engaging in class discussions and participating in student activities on campus. There was a strong sense of student-driven community here that is hard to find outside of Augustana.

Alexandra Malley – Bachelor of Science, Class of 2016

1. Right now I’m starting my first year of the MD program at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.
2. I came to Augustana hoping to get into medical school, so I’m pretty happy to say that plan worked out for me! But there was a time during my second and third years that I seriously considered grad school instead, as I started to get a better idea of what the research side of things would entail. But after looking into it I learned that you can get an MD with special training in research, so that’s probably where I will end up!
3. I really thought that I had it all planned out when I got into med school… but now I’ve realized I have to make even more decisions about what kind of doctor I want to be. To be honest at this point I’m really not sure what I want to do, I’m just happy that I got in! I’m sure once I get a feel for the different areas I’ll be able to find something that’s a good fit for me.
4. I really miss the small classes and having a relationship with most (if not all) of my professors. Now I have a different lecturer almost every day with a class of almost 200 people who I barely recognize! I also miss the lower cost of living… I’m paying pretty much twice as much as I was in Camrose! And, although I kind of think this goes without saying, I really miss all of the amazing friends I made in my four years at Augustana. When I first started, I had every intention of transferring to main campus after a year or two, but I loved the school and the people so much that I stayed to finish my degree!

Photo Courtesy: Kelaine Brand

Photo Courtesy: Natasha Hepp