Name: Jackson Vaught
Year: Junior
Major: Economics
CFS Class: Business Field Studies
Employer: ATOMS

One thing that really resonated with me from the CFS program is the idea of not knowing what you want to do yet is okay at this age. Specifically, Mark Fastabend’s guest lecture exemplified this point to me. Mark spent a considerable portion of his lecture detailing his unusual career path and how he came to be at his current position. As was a common theme with most of the guest speakers, he had a unique career trajectory, switching majors and transferring in college before a series of professional transitions. Being a junior at a school like Northwestern, there can be a lot of pressure to already have your career planned out step-by-step. For someone like myself who isn’t set on a certain career arc, the speakers from the CFS program were great in the way they painted a truthful picture of their career development. Our speakers, who are all clearly successful, admitted to periods of uncertainty in their career development, and usually their college majors didn’t end up directly aligning with their eventual jobs. However, there was a major common thread among all of them: open-mindedness and a thirst for adventure. They all embraced change with open arms and ended up prospering because of it. This message resonated with me early and definitely enhanced my internship experience. I worked at a venture capital fund, ATOMS, and while that definitely included considerable financial and analytical assignments, I also took on projects I wasn’t as comfortable with, like designing a website for my supervisor’s new fund. The speakers, Mark in particular, inspired me to take on a wide array of projects which ended up truly enhancing my experience. After completing the program, I now feel it’s okay to not have my career planned out 20 years in advance, and I’m excited to take on any opportunities I’m given in the future.