I Will Not Give Up

"I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature." -John D. Rockefeller
  
Since I last posted I have drawn another picture but I'm not going to put it up yet.  Possibly tomorrow I'll get it and put it up but I am in no rush.  Right now I am more focused on what I want.  What I ultimately want to do in my life.  How I want to get there.  What path I am going to take along the way.  My plan, since before I came to SFSU, was to attend a four year university, enjoy the life of living on campus in the dorms and meeting new people and get a degree.  Then after those four years I decided I would adventure back to southern california where I would attend an art school with the top Automotive Design program in America, The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.  The few people I talked to since I made that decision went along with it and said it was a good, different approach to getting to where I wanted to be so I ran with it.
     I started out at SF State on track to get a major in Mechanical Engineering.  I'm not quite sure why engineering was what I chose but something, probably that book I read while doing a report on Automotive Design that gave the career an alternative name, Automotive Engineering, told me that it was the right thing to go for.  However, recently, as I was sitting in my "Materials in Engineering" class watching the teacher go on and on about stress testing, I decided that this is not what I want to do.  Drawing had always been my passion hence the title Automotive DESIGN.  I don't really care what stress a certain material can handle while under a certain pressure or what happens when you heat up or cool a metal.  I realize that, while designing cars, these are important factors but I just want to be able to let my ideas flow onto the paper, computer, or clay model as easily as they come into my head.
     So, realizing that this isn't what I really want to be doing, I made some appointments with counselors in the DAI (Design And Industry) offices.  The first meeting I went to went really well (despite the fact that it was with a person who wasn't in my wanted field)!  He said that my idea of wanting to come to a four year school, go through this amazing experience and then move on to and art school was a great idea that he hadn't really heard before.  With nothing but happiness inside of me, I made another appointment (this time with the right person).
     After weeks of anticipation I walk into the professors office with a skip in my step due to so much excitement!  The first question she asks me is, "What is it I want to do with a major in Product Design.  So I go to answer with my idea that everyone else has approved of and immediately she cuts me off telling me that I could have just gone to an art school right away and starts to list them off…like I didn't do my research beforehand.  But, her being the professor/counselor in this situation, I let her go on.  She tells me that Mechanical Engineering would be a better lead in major than any sort of Design because the student can get a different, more rounded background and can have more knowledge in what the cars need.  Then, every time I go to bring something up like the fact that I have talked to someone, who went to the art center for Automotive Design, who said that the engineering side of the education he got conflicted with the design part of him because it held him back from just letting his ideas flow, or that engineering really just isn't what I want to do, she shoots me down.
     I don't get it!  I thought counselors were supposed to help you to do what you are interested in.  I realize that changing majors is hard work and takes time but if you didn't want to put in the time and effort then why did you choose this job?  This is MY future we're talking about, not yours!  I know what I want.  It is very clear to me now.  I don't get why all of this "choosing your major" and "going through the hoops" to just do what makes you happy has to be so hard!
     I have a plan of action though.  To get a good idea I'm going to call the Art Center and see what they would be more impressed with as a major.  Then, once I have an idea of what is better, I can go from there.
     I would seriously like to thank everyone who has been so supportive of me and my dreams.  It means a lot to me.

-A. Morgan