Moving Forward: Sean Alton on Change and New Experiences

Image credit: Jenny Chen for The Campus Trainer

With only a few days of classes remaining, seniors are reminiscing on their past four years while anxiously awaiting graduation. For senior math major and business minor Sean Alton, this moment of reality – graduating and moving further into adulthood – is bittersweet.

Looking wistfully ahead while holding a Chick-fil-A sandwich, Alton ensures that his thoughts are formulated before speaking for the duration of our conversation. With an avid passion for soccer, he plans to incorporate soccer with a business-related job. Here are Alton’s answers to some of my questions regarding his four years at the University of Maryland – and what’s next.

JC: Reflecting on your first year on campus, what was that like?

SA: I was really excited because it was just a completely different environment. The autonomy was something really new, especially with having so many different people together experiencing something new for the first time. Exploring new places on campus was really cool. For example, if you don't go to south campus that often, it’s just a very novel experience.

JC: Were you always certain that you wanted to be a math major and business minor?

SA: I was actually going to be a teacher. My major was elementary education, so for two years I did the whole education degree. I was a few classes away from completing the major because there were so few classes. I was always a math person. In the beginning, I was interested in education and math. I saw some of the work my friends were doing for a business class, and I thought it was really cool. One of my friends was doing something cool on Microsoft Excel, and so I just started doing projects by making Excel sheets for different projects. That was what prompted me to minor in business.

JC: Why did you change your trajectory?

SA: As I got more opportunities to actually teach, it wasn’t as fun or fulfilling as I thought it was. I would go into classrooms and be the teacher for two hours a day, once a month. We had time to plan everything and test our lesson plan with other students in Algebra 1 at the College Park Academy. I said to myself, ‘If I don’t want to do this once a month, I can’t do this every day for the rest of my life.’ So I said, ‘Okay, time to pick a new thing.’ People are always really scared of what they want to do, but often times, it’s all about considering new things and exploring new things.

JC: What’s something you didn’t do that you wish you did?

SA: Join more student organizations so that I had more of a different group of people to be around and [had] something to contribute towards. In terms of classes, a second thing would be to have asked for help more often, whether it’s actual material from the professor or asking older students suggestions on how to make my schedule. As a sophomore, I did get involved in more organizations, but there was still a lack of connection. I wish I did it earlier, but it’s all a learning process. I think overall, I would have wanted to talk to more people, be more open and hear peoples’ stories.

JC: Do you have any advice for incoming freshman and other students?

SA: Don’t worry about everything because everyone goes through uncertainties at some point. For example, with majors, if someone is currently stuck, a lot of it is trying new things because college gives you the time and opportunity to do just that. You can go to a conference or meeting about science for free on campus, but in [the] real world that might not be for free. If you’re thinking of doing something, just do it. Just go to that one meeting. Just go to that one show.

I also have a lot of tips about jobs and internships because I spent a lot of time doing job hunting. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you know that might be able to help. Also, don’t be afraid of rejection because I’ve been rejected so many times, like a 1000 times. I can’t even number them. Just keep putting yourself out there because all you need is one to say yes.

JC: What are your plans for after graduation?

SA: It’s kind of up in the air right now. I will probably get a job within business using the skills I learned from the minor and probably stay within the area. One company recently called me saying that they’re interested in my profile. However, more specifically, I want to work with D.C. United (a soccer club based in Washington, D.C). I’ve been talking to one guy, and he said that he needs help [with] something small and business related. I think it’s always cool to combine two passions, and for me, that would be soccer and business.

JC: What are your thoughts and feelings on graduating?

SA: It’s really weird. I’ve had so many good memories, within this one mile radius of College Park. It’s pretty much where I’ve lived around people and have great memories. I’m really sad to leave, but I feel like I’ve pretty much exhausted everything that CP has to offer. I got what I needed out of it. It did me well. Time for a new experience and change.