From Astronaut to Advertising and Public Relations
Starting at a young age, we constantly get asked what we want to be when we’re older. As a child, we might answer as a doctor, teacher, professional athlete, or even an astronaut. However, with time, we get asked the same question again but are expected to give more serious or “realistic” answers.
Why is it that we can be anything we want to be when we’re younger, but then get pressed about our plan before we even graduate high school?
To no surprise, around 80% of undergraduate students end up changing their major at least one time throughout their college career. At GVSU, nearly 50% of all students switch their majors.
To be completely transparent, my college journey has made me a number in that statistic.
The Initial Decisions
In 2020, I was a high school senior facing the crisis of COVID-19. Like many, what I thought was my original plan ended up changing in the blink of an eye. Not only was there pressure behind saying goodbye to high school without a prom or a graduation, but I was tasked with figuring out “what the next step is” before closing the chapter I was in.
While I knew I always had a passion for helping others, I thought the original path for me was social work. Not ready to leave a world that I didn’t recognize, I decided to stay home and commute to a local-four year university.
Not completely satisfied with the direction I was headed in, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw an advertisement for GVSU’s education program. Needing a change, I decided to apply for the education program without ever even seeing the campus.
I’ll never forget the look on my parent’s faces when they saw my acceptance packet while I was at work. Within a few weeks, I started my second semester of freshman year living at Murray Living Center on the north campus as an Elementary Education major.
Arriving at Ad/PR
For the first year and a half at Grand Valley, I thought I had finally found my calling. But soon I started to second-guess that education might not have been as fitting for me as I once thought. As if I needed a new sign, I saw a post on Instagram (once again) about the Advertising and Public Relations drop-in advising.
This is where I had the honor of meeting Dr. Adrienne Wallace. In a matter of one conversation, she was able to help me realize the path I was destined to take as an Ad/PR student, especially with public relations as an emphasis.
The decision for me was easy, once I took the chance to learn what this major had to offer. I knew that I wanted to be in a career where I had the opportunity to grow, to make an impact on a company or within a community, but also be in a career path that provided different options when I wanted to try new things.
Final Thoughts
So when posed with the question of how I got from astronaut to advertising and public relations, it boils down to a single answer. Some might call it indecisiveness, others might say it was intuition, but I just say I followed my gut, and now I know I’m exactly where I was meant to be.
To any student that may be questioning if you’re in the right major, expand your horizons. Take a college career test, talk to your advisor, go to the drop-in meetings for different majors, and explore every avenue that you can, while you can. Eventually, you’ll confirm that you’re in the correct field for you, or like me, you’ll end up in the career path you were searching for from the beginning.
About Breanna
Bre Hammer is a senior majoring in Advertising and Public Relations. This is her first year participating in GV PRSSA and GrandPR. Last semester she joined the Alumni Committee for PRSSA and will be starting as Programming Coordinator for GrandPR this winter. She is also starting a position as a journalist for the sports section on the Lanthorn. After graduating, she hopes to find a job that allows her to travel.