When I was in high school, I didn't have any confidence in myself when it came to schoolwork. I got an A+ in procrastination! Which, isn't exactly something to be proud of, but it's the truth. I procrastinated homework and studying because when it came to school, I did not believe in myself whatsoever and I didn't value it as much as I should have. A good education is a privilege and I 100% took it for granted.
When it came time to prepare for college, I developed major anxiety. I was an art student in love with making my own art, but not a clue as to where I could put that skill to good use. I confided in my favorite teacher, my art teacher coincidentally, who encouraged me to apply to Western Michigan University because that is where she got her education to become an art teacher. So, I took her advice and applied to WMU where I was accepted! However, my friends were applying to so many colleges, but I just didn't know where to start. My boyfriend (at the time) and I had discussed going to college together so we wouldn't have to do the whole long distance situation. Therefore, I applied to a school that he was passionate about. Which, coincidentally, happened to be the rival of WMU. You guessed it! Central Michigan University. I have heard of CMU, I think everyone has. I knew it had a rep for being THE party school, but I was interested in seeing what it had to offer me.
My parents and I scheduled a tour of the campus where we would meet my cousin who was CMU alumni. She actually went to school there to be an art teacher and said that she can get me into an art history course to sit in on. I didn't exactly know what kind of art degree I would want, but art was my passion and has been since I was a little girl so, I was intrigued. We sat in on a pretty interesting art history course and I met the professor afterwords. Art history would officially become a major my freshman year there. That is, if I were to attend.
My cousin also gave me a tour of every single building on campus! The campus was perfect for me, I loved it! Shortly after, I got my acceptance letter and decided that it was meant to be!
Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I was officially a chip and could not be more excited about it. I was living in a dorm in Calkins and I made a ton of friends right from the start. They soon became my best friends! We watched movies, went to the little market, and hungout with each other all the time! We also
had a facebook page for our hall and someone had posted that they would be starting a Bible study in the lounge and I decided to attend that every week too. Everyone from that group was attending a church called His House and I started to attend also. We were all basically freshman and we all hit it off pretty well! Everything was going great! Also, during my first semester I signed art history as my major and decided that when I graduated I would like to become a curator! I had it all planned out, but God had a very different plan for me.
During my freshman year, I took a class called "designing foundations" where I met one of my best friends from college. Her name is Hayley, her and I hit it off pretty well too and we soon became friends. I was heading to her dorm one day to vent about our class and to hangout. That was when I met her roommates, Tess and Ellen. We all hit if off pretty well! Some time went by and they asked if I would like to get an apartment with them the following year and I said "yes!" Sophomore year was already looking great!
During the spring of my freshman year, I went on a retreat with His House church. We went to the U.P. where we hiked, took a class or two, and bonded with multiple people from the different His House locations all throughout Michigan. On that retreat, I rededicated my life to God and got re-baptized! I was so happy and on fire for God that shortly after that retreat, I applied for a camp counselor position at Gull Lake Ministries as a children's counselor and got the position! The woman who interviewed me became a close friend! During my interview I am pretty sure we talked for an hour maybe over an hour! She said she had seen something in me and just knew that I had to be a part of the team!
So, the summer after my freshman year I became a camp counselor. I was gone for half the summer with little to no connection to the outside world. When I say that, I mean that we weren't allowed to be on our phones at all. Anyway, I was a counselor/teacher for children aged infant to 5 years old. I LOVED IT. That is when I fell in love with the idea of children's/youth ministry, but shoved it out of my head because that wasn't what I was going to school for. Looking back on it now, I think fear just got in my way.
Fast forward to the summer after my sophomore year. One whole year later. I was traveling to Italy with my roommate and friend, Hayley. She was a graphic design major, so we had some of the same classes and whatnot. We were stoked! It honestly was the trip of a lifetime. Eating gelato every day, doing lots of drawing, and just taking in every beautiful piece of architecture and walking...walking A LOT. However, it became a pivotal moment in my life for a very different reason. You see, what a curator does is they are a keeper of a museum and/or specific collections within a museum. With traveling to Italy, we spent a lot of our time in galleries and museums and I realized something very important...I HATED spending hours in a museum..So, you can see where this becomes a problem. I was going to be starting my junior year in a major where one of the only careers it can lead to is being a curator. Like, was this a joke?! I spent almost my whole college career studying and practicing to become a curator and I hated being in a museum?! Well it seemed too little too late to re-evaluate my life decision, so I eventually became content with the fact that I was probably going to end up hating my career. I am literally laughing as I am writing this now because that seemed silly to just accept my fate like that, but as I said earlier, God had a different plan.
When I returned from Italy, I didn't have a church to go home to. My family had stopped going to church together when I was in middle school so it was up to me to find one for myself! However, while I was in Italy a girl named Abby that I sort of knew from high school and had gotten together with a couple of times since then had messaged me saying that a church from home was offering internships and she was wondering if I would be interested. I didn't see why not, but I also didn't see the point of it either. It had nothing to do with art history and it wasn't paid, but something told me that I should just do it! So I applied and when I returned form Italy I had an interview with the Pastor and his wife. I was very nervous because I really had no idea what to expect. However, I met with them and they were amazing. I loved talking to them. The last church I had attended had left me feeling nervous as to whether or not I even wanted to attend church anymore, but when I met with Pastor Dan and Emily I knew that I was supposed to be there and they even said that exact same thing about me. They offered me the internship and I accepted it!
The main thing that I became a part of when it came to this internship was the children's ministry, per my request. I worked with the head of the children's ministry, Irene, and loved talking to her as well. Everyone at the church welcomed me with open arms, as if I had been a part of their family all along. I soon fell in love with the church and my church family.
During the time of my internship, I had "met" Matt. My now boyfriend and best friend of almost two years! I put met in parenthesis because we already knew of each other, but that is a different story that will be a blog post all on it's own. Anyway, while we were in the process of dating he had started to attend church with me. He fell in love with the church as much as I had. We were kayaking out on the lake that his mom lives on one day and he had asked me a question. A question that shaped who I am and where I am today. "Jenny, I see you at the church and you're so happy working with everyone there and working with the kids. So I am just wondering, why you don't pick a career that has to do with that instead of Art History because I haven't even heard you mention anything about art since we've gotten to know each other." It kind of threw me for a loop in all honesty. So much so that all I could really say was, "I don't know." He was right, I was so happy there. So much so, that I didn't really want to go back to CMU which is pretty big because I loved it there. My friends and my routine. Being a chip was all I knew how to do anymore. Well, that was until I started the internship.
The time came for me to move back down to CMU for the first semester of my junior year. Still not knowing what exactly to do with my whole art history situation. I knew that Matt was right. I wanted to be home with my family, with him, and with my church. I'm not going to lie, ask anyone, I am a really honest person and pretty blunt at that. I indulged in the stereotypical college experience. All the way through my freshman and sophomore year. I was going out with my friends, skipping class, etc. But when I got back to school for my junior year, something changed. I wasn't all that interested in going out with my friends/roommates anymore. I did a handful of times, but my roommates can probably vouch for the fact that I had changed. I wasn't really the definition of a typical college student anymore. I went home any chance that I got to see Matt and attend church. I'm not saying that I wasn't "fun" anymore, but my mindset on who I was and what my purpose was did a complete 180. One night I completely broke down. I had attended church that evening and the message was about how we put worldly limitations to what God has called us to do. I felt as if the speaker was speaking directly towards me. I knew that art wasn't my calling anymore, I didn't know for sure what exactly my purpose was, but I knew that I had served my time at CMU and it was time to pack up and leave.
I called my mom that evening that I broke down, crying and telling her that I didn't want to go to CMU anymore and I didn't want to be an art history major. My exact words I believe were, "I want to transfer schools and work in a church." I was scared of what she would say, but she supported my decision and I began my research on transferring to a new school. I had heard of Grace Bible College, now Grace Christian University, through some counselors that I worked with at Gull Lake. It was much cheaper and smaller than CMU and seemed like the perfect fit for me and the transfer process began.
So, here's the official update on my life! I am technically a senior in college at Grace Christian University. I am getting my Bachelors degree in leadership and ministry with a focus in psychology and I am expected to graduate at the beginning of 2021. What I would like to do with that degree is to either become a youth ministry director, children's ministry director or a Christian counselor. I am also interning, once again, with Res Life Church again working primarily with the children's ministry and I couldn't be happier being here! I also have kind of a side hustle going on with creating calligraphy and selling it! For those who don't know what calligraphy is, it is basically the fancy writing you see at Hobby Lobby!
I am very aware that the career path I plan to follow does not make a lot of money, but I get paid in much better ways than that. This has easily become my passion and what makes me the happiest doing. I also don't care for negativity, so if you wanna go ahead and say something rude about this plan that I am following I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself. I am thankful for everyone who has supported my decisions and has encouraged me through this journey! I have so many people to be thankful for, but more specifically my family, my church family, and Matt! I love you all so much and feel so blessed to have you all.
There are a lot of in-between details that influenced these decisions of mine which will be discussed in later blog posts. But this is the summary of my college experience thus far. I love CMU and would still recommend the university to anyone who is looking into it, it just wasn't right for me anymore and I have learned to be okay with that! To all of my friends still at CMU and those who have graduated, thank you for making my time there some of the best years of my life! I miss you all and I am confident that you all know who you are. My friends from Calkins, church and my roommates Hay, Tess and Ellen, I love you all and miss you all so much.
XX,
Just Jenny
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