EDIT DESK: A risk for happiness

Samantha Tomaszewski, B&W Staff

There is nothing that gets me more fired up than the phrase “arts and crafts.” Being in the College of Arts and Sciences at a university renowned for its engineering and business schools has certainly been an eye-opening experience to the stigmas associated with studying journalism.

According to Lehigh’s career placement survey for the class of 2013, 51 percent of the College of Arts and Sciences students were employed after graduation, 39 percent pursued further schooling and 5 percent were still seeking. Eighty-four percent of the College of Business and Economics students were employed after graduation, 12 percent pursued further schooling and 2 percent were still seeking. Sixty-six percent of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences students were employed after graduation, 29 percent pursued further schooling and 2 percent were still seeking.

These numbers, while not necessarily staggering, show the disparity between the different areas of study. Lehigh has strong connections in the engineering and business worlds and tends to be able to better cater to these students after graduation. Not to mention that journalism is a dying field, blah, blah, blah. Not true.

And let’s not forget about the money, the mean starting salary for a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences in the field of humanities and social sciences (aka journalism) is $45,341 with an actual salary range of $77,000-23,000. Compare this with a graduate of the engineering school, where the mean starting salary does not go below $50,000 and goes as high as $74,000 for those with chemical engineering degrees.

Given all of these facts, wouldn’t it be stupid not to choose a major in business or engineering? (This is a rhetorical question. I’m getting to the point.)

If I really wanted to, I could force myself to sit down at a desk in FML for four years and study calculus or economics to earn a degree that might secure me a job or earn me more money. My dad works at Morgan Stanley, and my mom worked at J.P. Morgan; I even have some connections if I really wanted to break into the biz.

But that’s not what matters to me. In spite of all of these facts staring me right in the face, I still choose — and always will choose — journalism. The idea of doing something else just feels wrong.

I have many friends in the engineering school who say they and many others are fairly miserable in their academic experiences, but plug on in hopes of the light at the end of the tunnel. The success, the money, whatever they think it may be.

On top of that, I hear from many students that the value in their degree isn’t remembering that p = mv or how to find a derivative. The value in their degree is in the ability to problem-solve and how to think and analyze.

Why doesn’t that reputation carry over to my degree? I absolutely learn these skills, too. Journalism is not just about learning how to write — it’s about being efficient, persistent, practical, analytical and thoughtful. I believe many of those words could be used to describe a business student or an engineer. We’re not all that different. We just acquire these fundamental skills in various ways.

I one day hope to work for a news organization. I’m working for The Brown and White, producing content and a print edition twice a week. Experience and skills can’t get any more relevant than that. And I love doing it.

A New York Times article entitled “Do Happier People Work Harder?” says that Americans are feeling worse about their jobs than ever before. It reads, “Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. When people don’t care about their jobs or their employers, they don’t show up consistently, they produce less, or their work quality suffers.”

A Gallup poll reported in an article by Forbes “found that only 13 percent of workers feel engaged by their jobs.” I certainly feel happy to know that I will someday be in that 13 percent. I can’t imagine a more exciting and engaging job than being able to enter a newsroom every day.

This risk that I choose to take for my happiness shouldn’t matter to anyone but me. I acknowledge that it may be harder for me to get a job or I might not make as much money; people act like I don’t realize that.

The idea of one major being superior to another solely for these reasons is ridiculous. There are a multitude of motivations that are behind one’s career path, and for me, it’s passion. I should not be looked down upon in any way for that. This is something I have always known I wanted to do and will continue to do with joy.