Katie's Blog

How Do You Manage Work Life-Balance After College? (Draft)

As the final year is wrapping up for college seniors Sergio is filled with excitement and eager to get to the finish line. He is used to balancing a full school load and a part-time job, but he knows the ultimate test is soon to come: going into the workforce. While juggling school and a job has given a taste of what to expect, nothing can prepare him for the reality of a full-time job. 

Soon seniors will face an abundance of challenges. The entry into the professional workforce in many cases will lead to the end of the flexibility that they have had up until this point. Being able to distinguish the lines between work and personal life, pursue job fulfillment, and prioritize their mental well being will be key in achieving a viable work-life balance. 

For many of them this will be the first time they will have to balance a full time job that does not allow the flexibility of a college schedule and their personal life. It will be a new experience for many new graduates to have to learn how to manage their personal lives after 5pm and on weekends. 

The adjustment period may be difficult after following a certain routine for so long. When asking senior, Caden Hester, about how he would manage his free time after college his response was, “I am looking forward to life after college but I am also going to set time aside for myself. A lot of people seem to lose joy in their jobs and I want to try my very best to not let that happen to me, and I think the best way will be finding time for me. There are also new jobs evolving everyday and a lot of those are remote which allow you to have more flexibility, but for now I will try my best to find a balance in between.”

Although, it isn’t always a straight path to get there. A vice president of another liberal arts school gives his advice to graduates and says, “This work-life balance has become more popular with this generation than it ever was in mine. It means different things to different people and really has a lot to do with the type of job you work. You can work a ton, but you still need to take care of yourself. Maybe for some people it’s finding time for the gym or reading a book. It’s important to find fun outside of your job, but also find things that bring you joy with your job.” 

Stacie Hayes Interview 

As the next graduating class is wrapping up their final year of school, they will soon find out how to manage their time accordingly. Finding time to take care of themselves has been a personal goal made by many and likely a new standard in today’s workplace. They will soon discover that mastering time management and self-care will be more than a goal, but crucial in today’s ever evolving world. 

Reverse Scavenger Hunt

A reverse scavenger hunt is giving something away to people rather than having to find a specific object. For this specific reverse scavenger hunt, I was handing out avenger fruit snacks. There was a variety of yummy snacks that we could choose, but I chose the avengers because they are one of my favorite movie series. I had originally thought that I would just put a sign on the box and let people grab them if they would like and just observe the interaction. Instead, I ended up going with the more traditional route and just attempted handing them out to people. I was curious to see how this experiment would go and how people would react to a stranger offering them food with no further explanation. 

I decided I would try to pass out as many fruit snacks as possible to the students in my next class. I started with the professor for the next class. His response to me was originally a “no”, and his immediate reaction that he gave me was suspicious and cautious. After asking him why he said “sure why not. I was going to say no because of the sugar, but then realized I was drinking coffee”. 

After that I tried to go with two students in my next class. I figured that maybe I would get better reactions from young college students instead. The first student I asked had a bit of a puzzled look on his face and then told me “no I ate too many snacks last night” and opted to not take one. The second student that I offered it to didn’t even hesitate and said “absolutely”. 

The majority of the people I asked said no originally but would soon later switch to a yes. It seemed like the crowd that was most likely to grab the fruit snacks were the students, while the staff seemed to be a bit more hesitant and confused by the offer. I figured that the students would be more likely to grab a snack, especially if they are in between classes maybe. That’s not to say that the students didn’t hesitate either though. 

Assignment 4

In an article from longreads, “What if the Robots Were Very Nice When They Took Over the World?” talks about the possibility of integrating AI into international relations. It mentions the challenges and benefits that could come from this. There are questions being raised on whether or not we are beginning to rely too on artificial intelligence. The benefits that could come from this is the potential of increased precision. 

This story doesn’t have traditional “characters” like a novel would, but in a more broad sense. The characters to be considered in this article would be AI technology itself that is starting to do human tasks. The policy makers that are responsible for posing the idea of integrating AI into international relations. These policy makers would be people such as government officials and policy makers. Lastly is experts that have raised their concerns about the use of AI for something this complex along with the risks and limitations for relying on technology. 

The article shows recurring themes of technology and diplomacy and ethical concerns. The article talks about the advancement of AI and the transformation process to be able to negotiate in international relations. Ethical concerns are raised in ways that AI may not be reliable or trustworthy with sensitive information. 

Based on Hersey’s story to be “true” it should have factual information while also seeing the broader picture. In this story, I believe that I would consider this article to be true because it does focus on the important details and developments of AI and its plan for diplomacy, but it also focuses on expert opinions. It focuses on both what is factual and the bigger picture behind it.