by Benjamin Arthur |
University of Portland senior Gina Garaventa changed her life approach this past winter break. She felt overwhelmed by her boyfriend. He wanted to take the next step in their relationship; she didn’t want to take that leap. After breaking up with him—and moving out of his place—it hit her.
I’m a young adult. I’m a senior in college.
And poof came her new motto: “Do whatever the fuck I want.“
So Garaventa started spending more time with her friends. A buddy wants to get drinks on a Tuesday? She’s game. She’ll dash from her social media internship at FEI—a company in Hillsboro that makes microscopes for medical research—to North Portland to meet up with them for dinner and take shots of whiskey.
“It’s a school night, but who cares?” Garaventa said, “I want to go out.”
Garaventa, 22, is an organizational communications major at UP. She hails from Salem, just an hour south of Portland, and she made frequent visits to the Rose City growing up. Four of her five older siblings, who are all separated by two years, came to UP for college. So when it came time for her to make a college decision, she followed the family trend.
Fast forward to today: Garaventa is a second semester senior on the Bluff. She is trying to figure out what she wants to done for work after graduation. FEI consumes nearly 20 hours of her week. They’ve offered her a job, but she sees it as a steppingstone for something greater.
But until Garaventa figures out exactly what that is, she’ll continue exploring different passions. She recently discovered a love for cooking after receiving a crockpot for Christmas. One of her older brothers had a baby recently, too, and she now enjoys her role as an aunt.
Time is ticking; Graduation, just a couple months away. So what is there to lose? There are many more spontaneous decisions to be made, Garaventa says.
“(It’s) just making myself be social, and making myself make the decisions of ‘just done it,’” Garaventa said.
Leave a Reply