Finding My Goal

By Austin Hollenbeck

Since my childhood, I have wanted to be successful. However, I was never certain of what exactly I wanted to be. As a kid, you can have many dreams and aspirations of what you want to be when you are older. For me, though? I was never exactly certain. If anything, I focused more on enjoying the moments I was in, as a child does. However, even as I started developing aspirations in life, many parts felt out of reach as I was eventually faced with the reality of growing up as dreams can change. Despite these challenges, I managed to find a goal for myself in life.

After graduating from high school in 2016, I decided that I wanted to study radiology at Colorado Mesa University. I had already earned my CNA license the first semester of my senior year in high school, so this seemed like a logical decision. However, I quickly discovered the amount of effort I would have to put into studying anatomy alone, let alone the other classes I was taking. I was no stranger to studying more than usual, but I was also no stranger to anxiety and stress because of this. After failing one class and barley passing another, I knew I needed to make a change.

After finishing my general requirements that Spring semester, I decided to continue with CMU the following year. This time however, I decided to go a different direction with my major. I had felt like I had an interest in film and animation so I felt like it would be a good area of study to lean towards. I continued to stay with this major as I felt I had some commonalities with the students, and I felt that this must be my end goal. However, despite what I felt I enjoyed about the major, I felt that I was not happy with where I was at. Essentially, the end goal in question did not feel practical or realistic to me. Because of this, I decided to take the next school year off, but it would not be until the following year that I would find my calling…

Instead of returning to campus that Fall, I decided to work instead so that I could save money and find my direction in life for a career. Throughout the year, I noticed a commonality in that people would often comment on my voice both during work and outside of it. My voice is deep for my age and often described as being fit for radio, singing, etc. If this was not enough of a hint, a family friend introduced me to a local radio station in Montrose where she has had work. With these factors in mind, I decided to return to CMU in the Fall of 2019 with a focus in mass communications. It would be here where I finally found my goal of not only wanting to work in radio but voiceover as well thanks to the people I have interacted with every day.