Living the Life I Want

" Devote yourself to what you find worth living for, and spend your time, in college and the life thereafter, doing just that. " 

 - Jessica, '14

What did you learn from your undergraduate experience?

"I spent all of my college years telling myself “Have an arts career now, while you can.” Like so many others, I was under the impression that a Stanford degree had to equate to a lucrative career, and pursuing the arts did not seem to yield the same monetary gain as a career in consulting. So I spent my 4 years doing what I thought I could not do once I left college; I practiced my art. I sang in The Stanford Gospel Choir. I started my own Jazz Collective. I starred in musicals and even wrote my own. I opened up for international artists and performed throughout the Bay. I wrote protest songs and sang in rallies. I did my art as if I could never do it again. It became such a crucial part of my time and existence that by senior year I realized that I would not be fulfilled without it. Near the end of that year, I told a packed auditorium, after my final senior performance that I would be pursuing a career in the arts. I had realized that my perspective was completely wrong. Instead of seeing my college years as the only time when I could be the artist I want to be, I dared myself to see the rest of my life as an opportunity to live the life I want to live. Devote yourself to what you find worth living for, and spend your time, in college and the life thereafter, doing just that."

Jessica Anderson

African and African American Studies
Class of 2014

If you have a Stanford Story you would like to share, contact melissas@stanford.edu.