Is University Really for Everyone?
The end of the 2022 academic semester is rapidly approaching. Students of all academic levels find themselves completing final assignments for their professors as well as studying for upcoming exams.
One student, however, has been teetering between a decision she has to make: whether to continue her life as a university student or branch off and try a new experience.
Madelyn Beaman is a second-year student at St. Thomas University. She became a student at STU in 2020 and wanted to pursue a career in psychology.
“When I graduated high school, I wanted to be some sort of psychologist or therapist,” Madelyn says. She explains how she’s always been fascinated with the way the human brain works and how it has an effect on people’s behaviours and emotions.
This year she decided to take a variety of courses, from anthropology to economics, and even history. Upon beginning the second semester, she kept thinking about if what she was doing with her time was worth it in the long run.
“However, I feel like as the second semester went on, I stopped being as engaged in my classes as I used to be during the first semester.”
Madelyn’s classes were all in the morning, some starting as early as 8:30 AM to ending at 11:00 AM. Because of this sudden loss of engagement in her classes, she says that every time she returned from a class she would catch herself taking a nap.
“I’m so stubborn when going to sleep at night, sometimes I’ll stay up as late as 4 AM before rolling over and setting my alarm for my morning classes.”
Of course, she didn’t drop out and give up right away. She continued to try in her classes.
She gave a lot of thought to where she wanted to go with her student life. From chatting with her friends about her ongoing dilemma to Facetiming her mom every other night, she finally came to a conclusion in mid-March.
“I haven’t been seeing myself enjoying learning at this level,” Madelyn says. “I would honestly rather go to a community college closer to home, to be honest.”
On April 7th; the last day of classes at STU, she finished her final class and shut her laptop. She packed her bookbag and gathered other supplies to take home with her with help from her friends.
“I decided I wanted to continue working a job that I’ve always enjoyed doing, and that’s helping my family run our maple sugar camp.”
The Beaman Maple Camp is located in Elgin, New Brunswick, where Madelyn grew up. She says her family has been operating this camp for 7 generations, just being recently passed down to her grandfather.
When you visit the maple camp, you can listen to the Beaman’s explain the process of gathering sap from maple trees and how they turn it into many different maple products. Not only that, but you also have the opportunity to see how everything is made.
Growing up in a small community, Madelyn talked about how everyone knows her parents and their maple products. “When I was in elementary school, I always asked my classmates and teachers if they wanted any syrup or fudge from the camp.” She laughed, “I still ask a few of my friends to this day if they want anything!”
Madelyn discovered that post-secondary education isn’t for everyone. Working from home and enjoying her community’s satisfaction with her family’s business is what made her the happiest.
