My Path to Finding The Right Major – Communication and Speech Studies!

When I first came to The University of Tampa in 2019, I was truly living in la la land. I didn't know how to navigate an online school portal. I was culturally unintegrated. This will make you all laugh – I didn't even know how to make my damn bed. Not being a part of the dominant culture intimidated me. I was not used to this independent society. But these were the least of my problems simply because the biggest one was figuring out what I wanted to study! I had to look in the mirror and ask myself – why have I come to a place 9,000 miles from home? The truthful answer was to have my academics as my topmost priority.

However, that certainly was not the case during my first year in college. The reality of my life was Thursday night Kennedy, Friday night HPC, and Saturday night Ybor City. Let's not forget the late-night McDonald's and gruesome gas station chicken tenders at 3:14 A.M. (image attached)! I got a solid 'D' in environmental science and a sweet 'C' in microeconomics. I had chosen international business and management as my major – not knowing why and having no interest or idea about this major.

Freshman year was over, and I still lived in a fool's paradise. On top of everything, we were hit by a pandemic that drastically affected all our lives in one way or another. As Sophomore year approached, I decided to make some significant changes and figure this journey of academia out. There wouldn't be a worse feeling than studying something I dislike and, more importantly, a major that entails math. That's just scary! Having known that, I changed my major from business in management to business in marketing. Wow! Really? How damn stupid of me. After marketing, I made an even more impulsive decision, which was changing my major to cybersecurity. These decisions were made naively, with no research and stupid pre-conceived notions.

My fall semester as a Sophomore was over. While I was still flummoxed with what I wanted to study, I had a lot to be proud of because I ended the semester with good grades – two A's and two B's – which boosted my GPA considerably. I took this time to reflect on my semester deeply. The spring semester kicked off, and I was still oblivious to what I wanted to study. Upon deep reflection, I received the most contentment from my SPE 208 (Speech for Business and the Professions) class. I enjoyed public speaking, and my professor, Dr. Margaret Ostrenko, encouraged me to consider the CSS (Communication and Speech Studies) major. While I enjoyed public speaking, I was also scared of it. Coincidentally, my trainer at the gym was also training two professors in the speech department. He introduced me to them, and I was told that I could easily complete this major within the standard timeframe of 4 years. At the same time, I didn't want to waste all my business class credits – so I added a business administration minor.

And there was a major sigh of relief! I finally had chosen a major I enjoy studying and am proud to be a communication and speech studies major at The University of Tampa!