Real World Family

 There’s a theory that any two people in the world are connected by six degrees of separation. At the Annette Seago Career Innovation Center, I think we’ve managed to cut that down to about two, and somehow those two degrees seem to connect you to everyone. 

Before being a part of this family, I was always working toward something. The funny part was that sometimes the actual work was easier than getting the chance to do it. An email asking about an internship could turn into six follow-ups. Meeting the right person usually meant hoping and praying someone would answer in the first place, which is a surprisingly ineffective career strategy. 

When CIC interviews rolled around, I got to speak one-on-one with Mr. Enlow, who would become my animation teacher the following year. We had an amazing conversation about everything from our favorite animated movies to animation competitions and opportunities I could pursue in the future. I walked out feeling pretty good. Here was an adult who actually shared my interests, could joke with me about them, but also knew how to guide me toward becoming better at something I cared about. 

So, I guess that was degree number six. Then, on the second day of school in August, I handed Mr. Enlow my resume and asked for some advice about an award I had my eye on. I was expecting a few suggestions and maybe an email address or two. Instead, about 15 minutes later, I was sitting in a conversation with CIC Director Andy Mayfield. That brought me down to five, I suppose. 

Mr. Mayfield and Mr. Enlow then recommended me for Real World Learning, and that one recommendation introduced me to an entirely new group of people. Suddenly I was meeting community leaders, other students, educators, and people working in fields I was interested in. One conversation kept leading to another, and pretty soon I wasn’t really counting the degrees anymore. That is probably the thing I value most about the CIC. 

Of course, I’ve learned technical skills here. I’ve gotten to work with animation software, pursue certifications, and learn from people who actually have experience in the fields they teach. Those things are incredibly valuable. But what makes the CIC different is that the people here don’t just teach you what you need to know, they get to know you well enough to know who you should meet next. 

They don’t just hand you a list of opportunities and wish you luck. If you have an idea, they help you figure out who can help make it happen. If you’re interested in something, they know someone you should talk to. And if you don’t know what your next step is yet, they’re willing to help you find it. 

I came to the CIC thinking I was looking for an education. What I found was a network, and eventually, a community. 

That’s why I’m so excited about this building. The most exciting thing about it isn’t simply that it’s bigger or newer or has more space. It’s that there will be more room for those connections to happen. There will be another student who walks in not knowing exactly where they fit. Another student who has an idea but doesn’t know who to ask. Another student who hands a teacher a resume on their second day of school and asks for help with something that probably sounds slightly ridiculous at the time. And hopefully, that teacher will know exactly who to call. 

Maybe six degrees of separation really is enough to connect anyone in the world. But from my experience at the CIC, you don’t need six. Sometimes you just need one person who knows you, one person who believes in what you’re trying to do, and one person who knows the right person to call.