HAYLEE MATECKO

Chimamanda Adichie once said, “The single story… It robs people of dignity”. Having a single story can demean you, can create self-esteem issues, and creates stereotypes that have trouble being broken. When I realized I was a victim of the single story, I was determined to break free from it.

 

“Oh… You’re a freshman?” was what I was told I would hear. The career fair is a scary place, according to the upperclassmen. But I thought I was stronger than that. I thought that maybe other people had issues with being a freshman, but I was the exception.

 

After spending all day Tuesday looking for outfits and trying to find one that would work, I had finally found something flattering and business professional that said “I’m a lot more experienced than you think”. I researched all of the companies and found my top three, and had my notes about those in my portfolio. I was so prepared! As I got ready, I calmed myself down by playing my favorite music and pep talking myself in the mirror.

 

 “You ready to go wow those recruiters?” my roommate asked, smiling. “You look so professional!” I laughed, half nervous and half thankful that she had boosted my confidence.

 

I took the bus to Reed and stepped out, smelling the humid air of College Station. Following the group in suits, heels aching and my portfolio in hand, I was ready to conquer the career fair. I wasn’t going to give off the freshman vibe – I was an educated, sophisticated young woman who had the air of an experienced 25-year-old.

 

And then I walked into the arena.

 

The sheer number of people quickly became my biggest fear, and the inability to hear myself think was a close second. I sat down in a seat to reevaluate my notes about Air Liquide, USAA, and Stream Realty. I knew my stuff and I was ready.

 

Heels clacking, I walked down the steps to talk to Air Liquide. I struggled to get through the vast number of people, and quickly realized that Air Liquide had quite a few interested students. A lot more than I had expected. A little shaken, I continued walking through the aisles of booths, making mental note of who did and who didn’t have lines. But I was focused on my game plan. So once I had made it around the arena, I was in line for Air Liquide. I was determined to talk to them.

 

 “Hi, I’m Wanda. Do you know anything about our company?”

 

Problem number one: How does one answer a question like this? Because I knew enough to get me through a conversation with a recruiter, but not enough to answer detailed questions about the company, and I had no idea how detailed Wanda was planning on getting.

 

“A little! But feel free to tell me a little more,” I managed to spit out, with a little less grace than I had hoped. Wanda gave me a short spiel of Air Liquide (all of which I knew from the website), and then asked the next dreaded question.

 

“So what year do you graduate?”

 

Again I was apprehensive, because after hearing everything about how awful recruiters were to freshmen, I was scared out of my wits to admit to her that I was indeed, in the class of undesirables.

 

Once she knew, she began to ask me things like “Oh! Well, how do you like A&M so far?” and at that point I knew I had lost any potential chance with this company. A recruiter does not simply ask a student how they are enjoying college if they are interested in offering a job.

The way Wanda began to talk to me was symbolic of an adult patting a small child on the head as a sign of pity. I was hurt, slightly offended, and felt a crushing blow in my stomach.

 

I left the Air Liquide table feeling slightly dizzy, worried that the rest of the career fair would go just as poorly. I went back to my seat in the stadium and sat down, regrouping and trying to calm myself down. I reminded myself of something I had recently heard: I don’t have to be a part of a stereotype. I don’t have to be a part of the single story.

 

Much to my delight, USAA and Stream Realty were much kinder. At USAA, Dawn took my resume and talked to me about their 10-week internship program, handing me a flyer that explained the way to apply for their internship online. At Stream Realty, Molly was at first apprehensive because I was a freshman, but took my resume anyway. She talked to me about the potential opportunities for my junior or senior year, but the minute I mentioned wanting to work in San Antonio, she was intrigued in me.

 

Overall, my experience at the career fair was an interesting one. The hardest part about it was breaking free of the mold. Not only had I been told that it would be useless going as a freshman, but I had been told that nobody would waste their time on me. Being a college freshman is not the only thing that describes who I am. I am a strong, independent young woman with experience in the Financial Planning field. I have mature critical thinking skills and I work well with other people. I’m tech savvy and I understand how to look at things from different perspectives. My name is Haylee Matecko, and I am not a part of the single story that the career fair has written about college freshmen.