Graduation is around the corner, and while it is a grand event full of accolades, it is also an ending. Endings, without fail, show us how successful we were in meeting our objectives and if we stayed on course.
Most students shoot for the finish, focused on a distant goal, without truly looking at the world around them. I often see my fellow students stress themselves out to achieve the perfect grade, participate in groups in order to build resumes and wear themselves out looking for the perfect internship in order to get their foot in the door for their future career.
I’ve done many of these things too, but looking back I see how fruitless this effort can be. What really matters at the end of any journey is how you affected the world and the character that you built during it.
As a Daily Bruin video reporter, I learned the importance of developing a complete story. In video storytelling, having a shot that establishes the setting is more important than the great or interesting shot that pours an emotional moment out onto the screen. It is these establishing shots, this base, that give the emotion meaning and purpose.
Before we all get our close-ups and moments to shine, we must establish ourselves. With our future full of uncertainties, odds are that most of us will not end up with our plan B, much less our plan A. This does not mean we will end up in a bad place, just not the place we were aiming for.
Our goals will shift with time and I want to reassure everyone that is totally OK. This in fact reminds me of advice I received years ago.
Before I entered UCLA, a friend, borrowing from the long-established phrase, told me to focus on the journey, not the destination. I took note of this advice, but didn’t pay much attention to it as like most students I was focused on reaching my goals.
My experiences in Westwood have shown me that those words are a greater guide than I could have imagined. During these college years I’ve joined many groups, met friends and gained knowledge from the most unexpected situations. The instances when I have volunteered my time or had random conversations with people have come to shape who I am more than the ownership of a degree could have.
My advice for underclassmen remaining at UCLA is to remember that attending college is about the journey, not the degree. Take the age-old counsel to heart. Before you end your undergrad career, you need a strong establishing shot.
Johnson was a video reporter from 2012-2013.