Student Blog: Seasons of a Year

How do you measure, measure a year?”

-Seasons of Love, Rent

Rent is one of my favorite musicals. It resonates even more deeply with me as a queer native New Yorker born and raised on the Lower East Side, just blocks away from where the story unfolds. So when I saw the prompt for this month’s blog—The Changing Seasons—this song immediately came to mind.

Change is not always something I welcome and the stress that often accompanies it feels more pervasive than ever this fall. As I pull out my puffer and register for spring classes, an anxiety I know many of my friends feel too, lingers. Graduation is approaching, followed by “real life”, and the uncertainty of what comes next is closer than ever. Articles and social media posts warn that the job market for the class of 2026 is more competitive than ever. 

So many people know what they want to do, and exactly how to achieve it. Becoming a teacher, or lawyer, for instance, is not an easy thing to accomplish, but there’s a path laid out. The entertainment industry is not so simple. There are steps to take, certainly, but no amount of hard work, dedication, or skill necessarily guarantees a successful or financially stable career. So while the future feels scary for so many people, it takes on extra pressure when it comes to those of us who hope to be performers or work in the entertainment field in some capacity. 

A year ago, my life felt very different. I had a semester abroad in Paris ahead of me, a summer at sleepaway camp (which I thought would be my last) and over a year left in college to figure out what I wanted and how to get there. People reminded me it was okay not to have everything figured out—and intellectually, I believed them—but emotionally, it didn’t always feel that way. College has slipped by so quickly, and as it comes to an end, I’ve been thinking about the moments that made it up.

The cast of Rent sings of:
Daylights, sunsets, midnights, and cups of coffee.

If I had to pick a few moments to measure my past year in, it would be in these units:
 

Late-night deli runs, Dancing, Classes attended—and skipped (sorry, Mom), Broadway shows, TikTok scrolling, Swimming, Homework, Campfires, Singing, Card games, CitiBike rides, White Lotus Mondays, Planes to new places, Karaoke, Laughter

Throughout college, so much pressure has been placed on us to secure internships and jobs that neatly align with the careers we hope to pursue. So when I chose to keep spending my summers working at the sleepaway camp I grew up at, friends voiced their concerns. I wasn’t oblivious to the implications of my choice. I knew that while I was gaining real skills and doing meaningful work, my peers were padding their résumés and becoming even more competitive for the jobs I one day hoped to have, too.

Though it’s true that some people hire based strictly on what’s listed on a résumé, I wouldn’t trade my time at camp for anything. I spent my summer with my closest friends, learning new skills, consoling homesick campers at midnight, managing a team of thirty-three counselors, and being fully painted green while belting Defying Gravity on a water trampoline. These experiences may not look traditional on paper, but they’ve shaped me and prepared me for a career in ways a more conventional internship never could. I’ve come to realize that life isn’t about being ahead or behind, it can’t be quantified that way. And like Seasons of Love reminds us, the measure of life doesn’t—and probably shouldn’t—come down to conventional units, but the experiences we have.