3 September 2008
Winding Down But Just Beginning
Posted by Jorge under: Jorge .
So this is my last week as a Financial Peer Educator. Time flies! I remember starting about a year ago with all these hesitations and questions about how I would manage my time throughout the school year. During the Fall quarter, I honestly did not think I could manage the random jobs held: Chicago Quarter Mentor, research with my International Studies professor/advisor, and STARS peer mentor. Adding Financial Fitness to the mix was a great way for me to learn about something that I was never too comfortable with: finances and money management. I figured that money was great and that I needed plenty of it, but I didn’t think it could be this much fun!
Financial Fitness truly helped me learn about saving enough money for rent, allocating enough funds for dining out and having a blast with friends, as well as putting money away for emergencies and potential goals. When I joined Financial Fitness, I worked with two other amazing peers and had Brenda as my supervisor. I remember being majorly confused about how to create budgets for different student scenarios. I think that was the longest simplest task…ever! I’m sure Brenda thought I was a bit special…I mean, I had 5 budgets to do and it took me 437848 hours to finish them! ahh! Well, the point is I think I did ok…or so I hope! We did eventually use some of the budgets in a workshop! Yay!
Well, throughout the year I really began exploring my options in regards to finding financial stability while learning about ways to see the world. International Studies almost forces you to seek a new environment and find exciting alternatives to the life you have. Through the Career and Money Management Center, I became acquainted with these opportunities. By chance, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to attend a job fair during Winter 2008. I soon found out it was geared primarily for Commerce students, but that wasn’t the point: I wanted to find a potential job. I did eventually find a company that gave me a job to teach in Korea. I had accepted the offer, but a few weeks after I did I was informed of another opportunity through the International Centre along with CMMC. THAILAND!
I will stop rambling on and on about how amazing Financial Fitness and CMMC have been with me, but I must admit that without these departments I would not be where I am today. Granted, I’m 21 and still fresh out of college, but I think I have a better understanding of my options and where I can go. Without CMMC and Financial Fitness, where would I be?
For one thing, I probably wouldn’t be writing this entry.