Sweet talkin'

For the second year in a row, I was invited to give a career talk at my old high school. I was a bit nervous about it right before I started because I felt so unprepared--I rehashed last year's talk, and had just redone my presentation hours before. I was scheduled to speak for an hour and was concerned about the amount of time I was given--did I have enough content? But oh well, it was the last class of the day, and I figured the girls would thank me if they were dismissed early!

I started by giving an overview of my course--the pros and cons, the possible careers you could have after graduation. Then I focused on the career that I chose, and talked about misconceptions that people have about the job (that it's a glamorous job, for one. Seriously, a lot of days, it just so...isn't). During the first part of my talk, I mentioned electives, saying something like, "You could take up video production. That's how I met my fiance!" which elicited a reaction from the girls. Later on, as I was showing magazine covers, they all gasped at the teen magazine which bannered "PROM" on the cover. (Their prom is two weeks away. Oh, the excitement!)

At the end of my talk, I asked if they had any questions. And while a few asked about internships and all that, most of the questions were stuff like, "How did you meet your fiance?" "How did he propose?" I was unsure about indulging them since it was supposed to be a career talk, but their teacher kind of nodded her assent. Luckily, I had kilig stories to tell, perfect for starry-eyed, hopeless-romantic high school juniors. I got a collective "Awwww!" a couple of times as I told them about my--our--love story. (Thank you, H, for a Campus Romance-worthy story!)

Then they asked about prom. "Be good. And have fun!" I told them. The teacher asked me what "have fun" meant exactly. "Spend time with your girls," I said. "I know it's prom, and I know it's supposed to be a romantic, magical night. But don't let it be all about your date. Your high school friends are gonna be your friends 'til you're older, so it'd be nice to have this memory of prom with them. Spend time with your girls," I urged them. "Boys come and go," I started saying.

"...but friends are forever," they finished.

At the end of it, I sort of apologized to the teacher. "They were more interested in my love life than my career," I chuckled. The teacher told me that the girls said, "Miss, she was fun!" Now I don't know if she was just saying that, or if the girls really thought that. But whether it was a bit of career guidance or a little nugget about the importance of girl friends, I do hope that they took away even a little something from my talk.