Make the most of your Western experience
“How much I missed, simply because I was afraid of missing it.”-— Paulo Coelho
As college students, we enjoy a unique privilege not accessible to a large portion of the population, one that goes beyond cheaper streaming services and tickets. College is more than just a road to a degree; it is also an environment to foster a deeper understanding of how the world works and develop key marketable skills. The goal of higher education is to create success and opportunity, and Western Wyoming Community College goes above and beyond to give students the tools to do exactly that. For instance, there are often networking opportunities in many of the school’s job fairs and at certain events like Manufacturing Day. Mustang Success also often hosts workshops to practice writing resumes, interviews and cover letters.
Outside of the obvious career benefits, college also provides an opportunity to explore different perspectives. College exposes students to other lifestyles, cultures, viewpoints and experiences in a way that other aspects of life do not. Whether learning from courses, students or faculty, the nature of college helps to promote an open mind. You can facilitate this process by attending events hosted by student life, joining student-led clubs and networking with your fellow students.
As the world becomes more interconnected, the workforce itself will shift to reflect that. There will be more varied cultural, religious and political views in the workforce, and students who have taken the steps to understand more perspectives will become more valuable employees. Effectively, the ability to understand other cultures, political perspectives and social norms will become an ever more essential skill in the future economy, and those who master it will go far.
In essence, college serves to provide students with opportunity, but it does not guarantee that you will graduate with a job or that all your classes will immediately transfer over to a university, but it does set you up to become a more well-rounded human being. Ultimately, taking advantage of college beyond doing the bare minimum will help ensure that adjusting to life outside of college becomes vastly more streamlined and consistent, and most certainly set apart students who have taken advantage of these opportunities.
