Bison Hill seniors face life after graduation, college

By Jeremiah Hurd, Contributing Writer

According to the 2016-2017 Academic Calendar, senior students of Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) will walk across the stage of Potter Auditorium Friday, May 19. They will receive their diplomas and then walk down the steps as new graduates.

May 19 is still three months away, but seniors are already making plans for after graduation. Some seniors have jobs lined up, others plan to attend graduate school, some are still looking for jobs and yet others are undecided.

After graduation, MacArthur Community Leader and senior art major Peggy Mosley plans to move back to Oklahoma City where she grew up in a poor neighborhood.

“I plan to find a job that is working with graphic design or commercial art,” Mosley  said. “While I’m doing that, I’m going to get an alternative teaching certification to teach high school art in the inner-city,” she said.

 

Mosley didn’t always want to teach.

“When I came to OBU, my plan was to just do commercial art, but God showed me that I needed to be an art teacher in an area where I understood the kids, and I understood their actions,” she said.

“That is why I want to be a teacher in the inner-city, to give them hope like my art teachers did for me,” she said.

Mosley said she will miss OBU.

“This place has become my home in the last couple of years, and I’m going to miss the people and the environment,” she said.

Even though she has a plan for after graduation, Mosley said she is nervous about graduating.

“Who wouldn’t be nervous about graduating and getting out in the ‘real world,” she said.

Another student said he isn’t worried about post-grad life.

“I’m not nervous, mostly because I already have a job and a place to live off campus,” senior Stephen Briggs said, who is majoring in computer science with interdisciplinary in creative writing.”

The last couple semesters have begun to feel a bit repetitive and I’m ready for something new.”

Briggs said he already has a job as a software developer which he plans to maintain after graduation.

Briggs said he will miss OBU, but he is eager for the future.

“While I’ve definitely had fun, learned a lot, and made friends that I’ll miss, I realize that I’ve accomplished what I came here for and it’s time to move on to the next phase,” he said. “The time spent here has been well spent, but for me to really learn more in my field I’ll need to be practicing and working alongside other developers.”

OBU has a checklist of things to do leading up to graduation for seniors to use in their planning for after graduation. It can be found on OBU’s website in the Career Development section.

The checklist is split into three sections: fall, winter and spring graduation.

Under spring, the checklist recommends seeking “Application Help” and “Interview Help” from the Career Development Office.

According to that list, staff can help students fill out applications, write resumes and even conduct mock interviews.

Mosley said she has gone to the Career Development Office and received help with job applications and her resume.

“I didn’t have a lot in the way of job preparation, so someone helping me figure it out was awesome,” she said.

Briggs feels the services the Career Development Office offers are beneficial, but he said the services could be better advertised.

He said he did have them look over his resume.

Both Mosley and Briggs have taken steps toward being prepared for graduation.

They each face life after graduation with a plan, and urge soon-to-be graduates to formulate their own post-Bison Hill life.

If you are graduating this year, see the last issue of the Bison for a pre-grad checklist.