Beginning your college career can be a stressful time, and so can ending it. Figuring out which major and career path is right for you is something many students don’t realize or choose until further along in their college journey. Fourth-year student Jordan Daley, graduating this May, spent much of her time at the University of Maine figuring out which path was the right one for her.
“When I got here to UMaine, I thought that I had picked accounting, a major that would steer me in the right direction, and take me down the path I wanted to go. Junior year, I decided that accounting wasn’t for me, and that it was okay to change your mind in college,” Daley said. “One thing I learned while at UMaine was that you should never be afraid of change, you should welcome it. Because of change, I now am set up to be able to follow my dreams and pursue a career which I love.”
Daley is an accounting major with a minor in psychology, although she currently does not plan to pursue a career in accounting. She is set to graduate in May and plans to apply for an internship to work for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
“I worked at Disney for four months as a part of a college program in Orlando, Florida during the second semester of junior year, and after graduation I am going through the same program and have been accepted back for another four months,” Daley said. “After that, I hope to apply for a job down there and continue working for Disney in sales, marketing and management. I am also moving down to Florida after graduation.”
Daley is an Honors College student who is working on her capstone thesis project while also working for Team Maine, a program at UMaine that gives student tours, answers student and parent questions, runs orientations and leads Accepted Student Days campus-wide.
“The first time I came to this campus I knew that it was the school for me, and I knew that I had to be a part of Team Maine. I wake up every day and give a tour around campus that shows future students what life is really like here, and that this could be their second home,” Daley said. “It makes me feel like I have a purpose here.”
For the past four years of her college career, Daley has been commemorating each day by posting a picture on her Facebook and Instagram accounts. When she wants to look back on her experiences, she can look at what happened on “Senior Year Day #45,” or “Freshman Year Day #110.” These reminders of things she’s done at UMaine have made her time here worthwhile, and get her excited for life after college.
“I honestly wouldn’t change a thing about my time here at UMaine. Nothing I have done here was a mistake or regret, they were all just things that showed me what I wanted to do with my life and who I wanted to become,” Daley said. “If I wasn’t an accounting major I wouldn’t have the set of skills that I will now need to work in marketing, and I would not have figured out that marketing was the right step for me.”
Daley is spending her last few months at UMaine making the most of it, taking pictures of fun things in her life every day, just as she has for her entire time here.
