Another week, another blog for all of you to read. Today, I’ll explore the reasons and inspirations on why I switched my major and ultimately chose public relations as my career path.
The reason to switch to public relations came at a time of uncertainty for me. It was January 2013 and I had just started my second semester off from college in over a year and a half. Prior to taking this time off, I had transferred to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis from Ivy Tech and before that, Ball State University. Originally, I went to Ball State to pursue a degree in Japanese Education. Japanese was a passion for me. I had grown up watching Japanese cartoons (anime; アニメ) and reading comics, or manga (漫画). I took Japanese all though high school, getting top of my class three out of the four years, I was Captain of the academic team for the three years I could participate, was strongly active in our Japanese club; basically, if it was Japanese related, I was into it.
So, I was into Japanese, we know that much. My senior year rolled around and it was time to start thinking about college. Honestly, that idea scared me. I was clueless on what I wanted to do. Eventually, to make a long story short, I was pointed to Ball State to pursue Japanese and education, to eventually take my former Japanese teacher’s position.
There I was. Off to college. Being educated to educate others. I had a very successful first year of college. I made great grades and made a great deal of connections and friends. That soon came to an end. My school loans for 2010-2011 were denied due to a paperwork error two weeks prior to classes starting and didn’t have enough time to reapply. I was forced to take my first semester off and transfer.
Fall of 2011, after a semester off and a semester at Ivy Tech, I found myself at IUPUI studying once again. IUPUI’s program was odd. They didn’t have an actual Japanese major, but an individualized liberal arts major. Studying the language after a year off was rough, but I managed to catch up and quickly and was better than ever. Another bump in the road was ahead. Late Fall 2012 semester, I found out I had more schooling than I had anticipated left, including study abroad time I couldn’t afford. I was lost. Where do I go? What’s next? The only step I could think to do was to take off once again and figure things out.
January 2013 – I’m out of school and wondering what’s next. During the first week of what have been classes for me, my brother invites me to an event that would change everything. Professional Soccer was coming to Indy, and members of the support group were invited to the announcement. I wasn’t a member at the time, but my bother secured me a ticket to go. We arrive to the J.W. Marriott thinking we were just going to be in the crowd. Instead, we were on stage behind the new team owner, coach, Indiana Governor and other officials. The energy was beyond electric. I knew then that this was something I could do. I could attempt to bring that same excitement to others like Indy Eleven had done for me. I started in the Fall, with a major in public relations. Now here I am, no longer lost and a semester away from graduating with new goals and aspirations.
Long story short: thanks to this great team, I have found my calling. I couldn’t be happier.
James T Higdon 
Leave a comment