The Other Résumé

I think as college students, we are generally high-achieving, goal-driven individuals. We focus on the grades that are placed on our transcripts at the end of the semester, the lines we can add to our résumé with the endless amounts of activities that we take up in our schedules, and the people we network with to get that stellar letter of recommendation for whatever the next step is in our lives. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what we have achieved; however, it makes me sad when I see my peers, myself included, get caught up in the lines to add to our résumés.

Merriam-Webster provides the following as one of the definitions for résumé: a set of accomplishments. I think that as pre-professional, pre-graduate, and pre-life students, we focus on the accomplishments that get added to our professional résumés, but what about the list of accomplishments that aren’t added to our professional résumés? Aren’t those just as important as the rest of our accomplishments, if not more?

How about that time you lost track of time in a deep conversation and talked till 4:00 A.M. with a friend? How about the day you reached your weight loss goal? How about the day you were Confirmed? The day you decided to move on from a heart break? Or that you attended a faith-sharing group with a group of friends, searching for support, but you collectively couldn’t find it so created your own? How about the time you scored the highest grade in your class, setting the test curve? Changed your first flat tire… You attended a Women’s Relationship counseling group and learned you weren’t the only one feeling what you felt… The first time you had a conversation completely in a second language… You climbed your first fourteener… Traveled to a foreign country without the support of family… Safely completed your first road trip… Or settled your first true confrontation with a roommate or friend… Learned a life lesson that nobody could ever teach you in a classroom… The random acts of kindness that you perform without expecting recognition in return… 

This list is by no means complete, but I really find value in appreciating all of our accomplishments—the ones we place on our official résumé and the ones on our other résumé. The things that we can’t quite get across on paper. The smaller milestones, but no less important. 

Kindly,

Sabrina Nelson

Senior, Theology