The Journal

Issue date: 5/5/05 Section: Culture

The moment is almost here. The time has come for Webster University seniors to graduate. As the days draw nearer, graduating seniors race to finish overviews, apply for jobs and grad schools.

Melody Cissell, a literature and education double major, plans to follow her passion for museum design. She now works a part-time job at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, where she started out as an intern. Cissell hopes to work full-time for the company.

"I hope to work in museum design placing exhibits and implementing exhibits," Cissell said. "I work for a company where I am currently doing that. I eventually want to go to grad school, but I am not sure when."

Cissell transferred to Webster from St. Louis Community College-Meramec three years ago. She said coming to Webster heightened her feeling of kinship.

"At the community college there is, ironically, not a sense of community," Cissell said. "When I was at Meramec I didn't get to know my classmates well."

When Cissell came to Webster, she noticed a closeness that she didn't see at the community college. She also felt like a "small fish in a big pond" when she first arrived.

"I started out in advertising," Cissell said. "I found it wasn't for me, so I went back to English and education."

While Cissell said she is going to miss being an undergraduate student, she still feels like a kid in some ways.

"I'm going to miss it," Cissell said. "I know that sounds silly, but I am going to miss it. It's weird because I still feel like a 16-year-old kid inside. I'm going to get to this environment where I'm going to be telling people who are my parents' age what to do. That kind of authority, I'm sure I'm ready for it."

Late-night cramming won't be the same for Cissell after graduation. She feels doing so would not be for academic growth, but rather used as a competitive edge within the workforce.

"I'm afraid of the competitiveness," she said. "It seems like in the job market you are staying up late because of the competitiveness, not for personal growth."

Cissell credits much of her dedication to late-night study and to her professors that required hard work.

"My professors pushed me," Cissell said. "You get to know the Starbucks people really well. I hope that all my life there will be people like my professors to push me."

Cissell said she doesn't think finding a job after college will be a problem because she is not looking to make "a million dollars."

Continued...

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