My bachelor’s degree is finally to be honoured with an actual graduation ceremony about one month from now. Everyone in my bachelor year will have their one minute in the spotlight. Or rather, I think they will because I received an empty PowerPoint slide with a request to fill in my details. My name, a picture of my face and what my plans for the future are. A picture of me during my studies is also appreciated.
I start brainstorming and searching. Apparently, I own no more than two pictures taken during my studies in which I am recognisable. One was taken during a field trip at the end of 2020, where we pose, somewhat awkwardly, one-and-a-half metres apart, and one was taken during a soil drilling competition in 2021 (ended up last). I look happier in the latter, but the blue face paint doesn’t exactly contribute to my being recognised. The slide also leaves room for me to detail my plans for the future in a short sentence. I have a vague idea of what I want to do ‘when I grow up’. There are two options: policy-making or, if there are no openings available or if it turns out to be really boring, something else. I may decide to become a construction worker so I can finally do some menial labour. However, I have invested too much time in my education to do something entirely different, making the latter an undesirable answer. So, I choose the boring option and fill in “government employee”.
I may decide to become a construction worker so I can finally do some menial labour
The PowerPoint slide provides a distorted view of who I am and what I have been doing these past years: I am a blue covid-student who wants to work for the government. Still, the information may prove useful for the study advisors who act as masters of ceremony and are expected to talk about people they may have met only two or three times in the space of three years. This is far better than having them take the information from LinkedIn, where Ilja’s hobbies are studying and gaining relevant working experience for potential future employers. She knows her way around Excel. I would rather be known as a boring Smurf.
Ilja Bouwknegt (24) is a master’s student in Forest and Nature Conservation. Ilja is an active member of the study association WSBV Sylvatica and sometimes does bat research at night.