The
person who I interviewed was Rachael Letscher (permission has been given to use
her real name), who is in Chatham’s dual MBA and MSUS programs. I was
introduced to her from one of my co-workers in the Office of Career Development
here at Chatham. Rachael came to Chatham with an undergraduate degree in environmental
science from Westminster College. She graduates this semester. He
interests include travelling and photography.
One
of her traveling highlights was that she did an exchange program in the fall of
2017 in India through a joint program Chatham had with the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology.
Rachael
offers this advice for practicing good studying strategies: do not
procrastinate if you can help it! This is common but severely underrated
advice. She admitted that procrastination had caused her much unneeded stress
in the past. To counter this, she recommended to make an outline of the information
that is needed for your purpose or goal. Making outlines and encouraging the
organization of thought makes the task straightforward and easy!
In
my own experiences, I find this method to be very helpful at curbing not only procrastination,
but burnout. I will regularly plan out my day and write down the steps or
procedures to what I want to accomplish that day. Breaking the task down into
bite-sized chunks makes it much more manageable.
On
portfolio and resume building, Rachael states that always asking professors for
projects they have or know of that are going on in your department of interest will put your foot
in the door and can turn into useful projects that will add to professional
development. These experiences will help build a strong and well-rounded
resume. You may even be paid for some of these experiences! She mentioned that
the Falk School of Sustainability (our Eden Hall campus) has many different opportunities between the sustainability
and food studies programs and encouraged me to not be afraid to start my own
project, activity, and/or group if something I was interested in did not already
exist!
Comparing
and Contrasting the Interview with a Chatham Business Insight Article:
The
article I read was “Planting the Seed: Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Shares
Life Lessons” that was published in April. Here
is the link to the article.
This
article highlights a student’s experience attending a lecture from Steve Wozniak,
famously known as the co-founder of Apple. The student shared life lessons Wozniak
passed on.
One
of Wozniak’s points was “always use the best way, even if it’s not your own
way.” In sustainability, this has many contexts. Using the best method to
achieving milestones, even if it is not the preferred way, may be the only way to get something done. For
example, say you want to encourage cuts on the usage of fossil fuels. Perhaps
having the government set a price floor that incorporates the cost of the environmental
damage fossil fuels.
While
this would be seen as ideal, the economy is heavily reliant on these fossil
fuels and there are large switching costs to upgrade to renewable energy.
Raising the price will cause more harm than good. It is known that renewable
energy is more efficient, especially in the long run. So, the best way to reach this goal is to
encourage the use of renewable technologies and work towards making them
cheaper instead. People will naturally turn to what is cheaper. This method is
more inclusive of people of all incomes.
My
interview with Rachael shows that making tasks easier for everyone will get them done
faster. It is the same for any goal – whether it is completing an assignment,
studying, innovation, or passing law, it is optimal to use the “best way.”
References:
Sudkamp, K. (2018, April 12). Planting the seed: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shares life lessons. Chatham Business Insight. Retrieved April 12, 2018, from http://blogs.chatham.edu/businessblogs/2018/04/12/planting-the-seed-apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-shares-life-lessons/
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