So, real talk...raise your hand if you feel like you're constantly being pulled in a million different directions?
...yeah, that's what I thought.
Honestly, this is far from a new phenomenon, but for some reason the feeling seems exponentially stronger right about now. Welcome to senior year, I suppose.
With 18 credits, a 15-hour work week, volunteering for thesis, and a pathetic attempt to maintain a social life, it really shouldn't be that much a surprise I'm feeling this way. Let me tell you, the impending doom of graduation really motivates you to try and do
everything, all the time...even if there isn't enough time in the day. I've got FOMO like you wouldn't believe, cause' let's be real - after this year, who knows where I'll be, who I'll be with, and what I'll be doing. In other words, I'm trying desperately to squeeze as much as I can into my last year at SU without a clue as to what I'll be doing in seven, short months. Call it a quarter-life crisis?
Typical night in the life of a college senior. Shield your eyes, children.
Regardless, I've been putting as much as I can into my classes without completely losing my mind. Insert smart relative here...
can't lose what you never had...funny. Right now, I'm taking an interior design focus studio, thesis prep, history of illustration, accounting, textile handprinting, and a marketing class. Surprisingly, I don't hate accounting or my marketing class - I'd even go as far to say that the marketing class I'm taking is one of my favorites of the semester. Maybe I should tell you about it, eh? Alright, if you insist.
It's called
Sales & Strategic Partnerships. Sounds fancy schmancy and super-businesslike right? Well, it is - the class largely focuses on business to business selling and is catered to retail management students. On the surface, it hardly seems like the type of class an interior design major, who has zero experience in selling much more than a large cup of coffee to a starving college student, would have any interest in. Fair point, but it's actually turned out to have more overlap with what I do as an interior designer than I could have anticipated.
(Shameless plug...any retail management minor, marketing minor, or design student should try to take this class...it's awesome, I promise)
What's been most relatable/beneficial so far are the ideas of building rapport and discovering needs. Sales is largely based on creating meaningful relationships built on trust and then working with a prospect to really figure out what they need. Hmmm...sounds familiar. Working with clients as an interior designer requires a whole heck of a lot of trust - after all, I'm coming into your life/workplace/institution and dumping ideas on you right? I'm certainly not going to come in completely oblivious to the needs you have in relation to space, either. Anyway, this class has been a semester-long exercise in learning how to go about finding those needs as well as persuading -
not manipulating - people that you're offering effective solutions to those needs. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Anyway...let's talk thesis.
Gross, I know. This semester has been full of research, observation, and experimentation - it's mind-numbing really. Starting out, we were asked to identify three things we loved or were interested in. Naturally, coffee was the first to come to mind, followed closely by kids and education. After a few weeks of deep thought and mulling through ideas, I finally decided to combine kids and education...because, well, they pretty much go hand-in-hand.
Now, ten weeks of research later, I've chosen a location, topic, and focus for my interior design thesis. Using the Syracuse City School District as my focus, I've found that middle and high school students are in need of motivation to learn as well as an outlet to deal with issues occurring outside the classroom and often in the home environment. Looking forward, I intend to create a space that fosters improved academic performance as well as a sense of self-efficacy among inner-city students through a creative arts lens.
Now what does this space look like and how does it function, you ask? What a great question! Next semester really focuses on the programming and physical design of the space based on the research we've collected. That being said, I've already started exploring what our thesis looks like conceptually. A few weeks ago, my class was required to narrow our ideas down to two words - yes, just two. After a lot of stumbling over words, I boiled it down to
empowered pursuit. Since then we've all produced tons of scrap models, endless sketches, and three final models. Check out what empowered pursuit looks like to me below:
Check back soon for more musings from a stressed out college kid! Mmmm...your favorite!
Until next time,
