Every kid has had to think about what to do post-graduation, and the lifelong thought crammed into students heads has now become a pressing decision.
While everyone’s tale is different, they mostly start the same, at college, but it’s when wrapping up their degrees that everyone’s journey begins to diverge.
Professor Aaron Campbell, lecturer with the entering student experience, has had the opportunity to see entry-level freshmen turn into graduation-bound adults.
Throughout his time teaching as a University 1301 professor and as a helpline for students continuing their collegiate careers, Campbell has surveyed the field of the wants and actions of UTEP’ alumni.
“I have a lot of students whose goal is out of El Paso,” said Campbell. “Their goals when we talk openly about them, they like the idea of leaving.”
Whilst El Paso is expanding, it still holds that classic small city feel, and for many students, the environment is one they’d like to alter.
“I see that dynamic a lot, they tend to typically leave for grad school or first career option,” said Campbell.
Depending on who you ask on campus, there’s a good chunk that’ll tell you that UTEP is short-term for them and that their goal is out of town. For 50% of UTEP’s past graduating classes, that desire has come to fruition.
“I found, that they tend to leave and come back later,” commented Campbell when discussing how many students he’s seen leave El Paso. “There’s kind of an assumption that the grass is greener on other areas of the country, and then the realization is it actually isn’t, El Paso’s a pretty good place to raise a family, and they end up coming back afterwards.”
In no way are Campbell’s words said with a want to make graduates stay, after all, UTEP did serve as the foundation for remarkable national figures like five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, American Actress Alana de la Garza, who was featured in the first four seasons of NBCs Law and order, and four-time Emmy award winner F. Murray Abraham.
What Campbell wants to advocate to Miner graduates is that they shouldn’t leave.
The field for assessing what majors typically stay, and who goes, is almost invisibly split, yet Campbell provides insight into which careers UTEP alumni stay for.
“Nursing, criminal justice, tend to be careers that I see staying put and not leaving the region as much,” claimed Campbell.
Everyone’s path is different, and the only similarity between the various journeys Miner alumni take in life is unpredictability.
So to put it frankly, asking one’s self whether to leave or not to leave, can turn out to rarely impact the future, and as alumni have come to learn, the only place where they really go is where they’re happy.
Sebastian Perez-Navarro is a staff reporter for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected]
