Recent Career Services Expansion is a Big Win for UWT

There are more than 4,000 students attending classes here at the University of Washington, Tacoma. We have come here because we believe that the educa­tion we receive here will be worthwhile and meaningful. Yet, going to college isn’t simply about attending class and saying goodbye to our professors at the end of the day. What is going to college about? Why pay so much to be here? Why put so much time and effort into education? Because as students, we have hopes. We are here because we have dreams. We are here because we have a sense of purpose. College should not just put knowledge into students’ minds. College should not just provide classes. I believe college should strengthen students, improve students, and empower students in a way that is effective outside the classroom.

Recently, the Associated Students of the University of Washington Tacoma (ASUWT) launched a campaign urging our fellow students to tell the Chancellor to expand Career Services. I am so grate­ful that Senator Lundgaard took the ini­tiative in motivating students to take a step forward and make a change for the better. In the meantime, I am so delight­ed that my fellow UWT students had the courage to stand up and make their voices heard. Change doesn’t happen until after we take action. Change doesn’t happen until after we speak up. And change doesn’t happen until after we ex­press what we need and what we demand.

Career Services is absolutely essential. It is one of the most irreplaceable provi­sions within our university. While we acquire knowledge and skills within the classroom, that’s simply not enough. As we begin to enter the workforce, is a tran­script enough to get hired? Is a high GPA enough to lock down a job? Can we get hired by showing what classes we have taken? No! We’ve got to show capacity, preparation, and most importantly, a sense of how eager we are to work and how skilled we are to respond and react to various different tasks and assign­ments.

In a world that’s constantly changing every minute of every day, competing against each other for getting jobs is be­coming tighter, fiercer, and more chal­lenging. We must have the tools to update ourselves, refresh ourselves, and em­power ourselves. We may do well on exams because we are good students, but good students are not necessarily good job candidates. Knowledge is not useful without application. Our school should be able to improve us, strengthen us, up­grade us, and make sure that we are pre­pared to face a world outside of the aca­demic environment.

While many of us are good at writing essays, that doesn’t do much good when many of us don’t know how to submit a resume that meets the expectations of a potential employer. We may know how to speak up in a familiar classroom set­ting, but we may falter and stumble with our words when it comes to a job inter­view. And most importantly, we may be talented people with hope, ambition, and a willingness to take a step forward, but we may need some guidance on the path­way to success. That’s why Career Ser­vices matters. The mission of Career Services is to build a connection between students and the world that takes place outside of UWT.

We should cheer for the expansion of Career Services because now we have more people and resources to assist us in accomplishing our goals. We should cheer for the work that Lundgaard and those who joined him have accomplished be­cause without them, the expansion of Career Services wouldn’t have been pos­sible. We should also cheer for the Chan­cellor Chan and administers because this time, they listened and in the end, they responded to students’ concerns by tak­ing action.