#fancy fluff

New friend Skipper

In my case, I was blessed to have a wonderful scholarship from the Hendrick Scholarship Foundation. This scholarship is unique in that they don’t just give you money. Rather, they are focused on providing you with all of the resources that you may need in order to be successful.

A part of this is a requirement for me to attend two seminars a year to expand my skill set. The seminar that I did actually counted for two, and it was a course that taught me financial skills and information. Now I know what a mortgage is, how to determine what credit cards are best for me and what different retirement plans are.

Additionally, I am supported by an amazing group of people. I have a personal sponsor, named Barbara, who checks in on me from time to time and gives me advice if I ever have questions. She is a hard working lady who is sweet enough to take the time to talk to me about almost anything. I also have the team at Hendrick, who have been nothing but loving, motivating and supportive. There’s Veronica, who I talk to about most things, Greg, who is in charge, and Laura, who is the new receptionist. Lindsey used to be in Laura’s spot, and I actually got to know her better. She is a ball of energy and never fails to make me laugh or smile.

Thanks to Hendrick, I have the majority of tuition paid for every semester, and I don’t know what I would do without them.

In order to pay for the rest of things at college, such as my apartment, my groceries and occasional outings with friends, I took up a few jobs. The first one that I got was at the Campus Computer Store. My job description includes selling computers, cleaning and handing out flyers from time to time. However, the most important thing that I gained was not a paycheck but the group of friends that came with it.

Since I spend the majority of my time at the store, I have gotten to know my coworkers well. They are the people that have given me countless, priceless memories while here at UT. They have taken me to the movies, taught me how to two-step and shown me around Austin. These are the people that go to dance classes with me, the people that go to dinner with me, and the people that I get to mess with.

In addition to the store, I found another job opportunity through Texas Belles EPO, an event planning organization that I am now the communications director for. This job was for a student manager of events at the Blanton Museum of Art. And let me tell you, this job makes me feel so sophisticated.

While I am the youngest one on staff, it is my job to help manage events, whether it is to tell people that they aren’t following building rules, to monitor catering crews that are setting up or to clean up any spills in the area. In other words, I get to wear fancy clothes, wear a name tag that says MANAGER and tell people what to do in certain situations. Pretty cool, right?

It also means that I get to attend amazing events planned by my even more amazing boss, Stacy. This lady is the sweetest, most hardworking woman that you could ever meet. She is always so patient, and she goes with the flow of things. She also has a keen eye for events, and she plans wonderful things like galas and new exhibit parties that we call B-Scenes. Dawn, another amazing woman that I get to work for, also helps to plan these events, and she is so much fun to work with.

The Blanton also serves as a venue for events that we don’t plan, which are mainly handled by Christa, who is basically an older version of me. Because of this, I have gotten to attend a Jewish wedding, the International Symposium on Online Journalism (which I got a bag, umbrella, and thermos from!!!) and multiple musical performances.

Beyond the store and the museum, I pick up oddball jobs from caterers or event planners who are looking for extra hands. These are opportunities that I also get from Texas Belles EPO. These have included packaging donuts in boxes at 7a.m. on a Sunday for a Google PR event, managing the coat rack at a party for a video game development company and spinning cotton candy at countless events. I’m even going to be spinning cotton candy this weekend for Austin’s Pecan Festival. These odd jobs have given me the opportunity to make connections in the events world as well as learn new skills and practice hospitality.

While this does seem like a lot at first glance, it really isn’t. Because I know how to manage my time fairly well, thanks to my Passion Planner, I have been able to balance school and work effectively. I say effectively because it isn’t perfect. It is a constant trade off. I can stay up studying and be prepared for class and have my body unprepared for a day of work or I can sleep and eat and not necessarily get all of my work done. It’s a juggling act. And even though I may have almost slipped at times, I haven’t dropped a single thing.

I’m usually quite glad to be working a lot. I remember last semester just wondering what to do with myself because there were so many time gaps. I was used to high school where I was hopping from one thing to the next. Perhaps most people use their free time to study? I don’t know. I don’t need large expanses of time to study and make good grades. In fact, I work better under pressure. I like to feel challenged.

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