men! lor mind and body, and you'll need to
make a conscientious effort beyond gradu
ation to maintain the same sharp intuitive
skills and leisure time patterns you've
developed on campus Your "maintenance
education'-to com a phrase-will keep you
physically and mentally tit
Let s take a look at some of the things
you can do after you graduate, to continue
what you started four years ago
Take Extension Courses In nearly
every community you'll hnd atter-hours
classes ottered in every discipline imagina
ble, from wine tasting to Greek tragedy to,
well, origami Classes run anywhere trom
one to a dozen sessions at tees ranging
trom zilch-zippo-nada to about $100 These
adult extension courses are a great place to
learn a thing or two about ott-the-beaten
path subjects, and you'd have to look long
and hard to hnd a better place to meet peo
ple ot like age and interest It you're in a
small town, your local library should otter a
similar service
Work Out Its not the easiest thing in
the world to stay in shape ott campus,
there's no 24-hour gym at your disposal,
no assortment ot similarly-inclined recrea
f/ona//sfs looking to get together a game
ot sottball or touch football Vou'll have to
I i _
work hard to work out Join a gym or a health
club and enroll in one of their regularly
scheduled classes It's a great way to enforce
the habit of staying in shape Remember: a
sound body is the best place to store your
sound mind
Read That's right, read A lot It's important
to continue the good habits you Ve developed
in school as part of your maintenance edu
cation Read as much as you can. whenever
you can-books, magazines, newspapers,
anything and everything that holds your inter
est outside your field It's a good idea to
subscribe to a couple of publications to help
you stay on top of developments in several
areas, and to read your local newspaper and
a ma/or national newspaper on a daily basis
No one will make you do this—there are no
"pop " current events quizzes in the nine to
tive world-but you'll be a better person if
you develop the habit early on, and stick
with it
Amuse Yourself Gef out of the house,
have some tun Go to movies, plays, muse
ums. concerts It's easy—isn’t it?—to walk
down to the campus gallery or theater or
conservatory and take in some culture It's
less easy once you graduate, but a small
effort will pay great dividends throughout
your adult life And besides, you'll need to
have something to talk about at cocktail
parlies.
Get Involved In anything that sparks
your interest. In community issues, in local
politics, in neighborhood social events Go
ahead, coach that little league team, or that
girl’s soccer squad you've always dreamed
about leading to the county championships
You’re going to have to make a concerted
effort to pursue community-oriented activi
ties once you re out of school, but your com
munity and you yourself, can stand the effort
In all things, you'll need to enforce a
discipline that might have been lacking dur
ing your college years
The work you'll do, as important as it
will be to you and your sense of self-worth,
is not enough to sustain a well-rounded
individual You, or most of you anyway have
had a well-rounded education, and you'll
have to make your own effort to maintain
and apply that education toward a well
rounded adulthood
CASE IN POINT
Helene Galdor, 25, was always going to
be a lawyer She studied long and hard for
her LSAT exams, scored high, and earned
admission into several of the country's top
law schools Sounds like a dream come true,
right? Well, not exactly
"I hated it," Galdor recalls “I'm sitting
there, in one of my classes that first week,
and I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing here?"'
By the end of that first semester, Galdor still
couldn't figure out what she was doing
chasing a law degree, and applied for a
leave of absence from the program.
"It's funny," she now says, "but all your
life you 're groomed to do one thing and one
thing only My father was a lawyer, and his
father was a lawyer, and there never was any
question that I wouldn't be a lawyer, too It
was all one big going through the motions of
a career, until I realized, hey this isn't forme”
The leave of absence soon merged into
a withdrawal as Galdor convinced herself,
and then her family that the legal profession
could make it iust fine without her But even
that didn’t solve her career problems; it just
created new ones "That was one of the
hardest things I ever had to do," she says
"All of my undergraduate courses were po
litical science, history, some English, but
nothing that prepared me for any other type
of work It was as though I was starting all
over aaam. from scratch "
Galdor did remember an introductory
psychology course she took during her
Freshman year, and thought maybe a career
m some area of mental health would be right
for her While she worked at assorted day
jobs <waitress, temporary secretary sales
clerk), Galdor enrolled in night courses at a
local university to acquire the undergradu
ate credits necessary to pursue a clinical
psychology doctoral degree
After a year of part-time work and
classes, Galdor went back to school full
time for concentrated work in biology psy
chology and statistics courses, and she
worked part-time in a laboratory setting
under the tutelage of one of her psychology
professors "I was lucky," she says, "in that I
didn't have to worry too much about money.
My parents were pretty good about helping
me make this transition as quickly as possi
ble. If I had to do this about-face totally on
my own, it would have taken a lot longer."
Last summer, after a year-and-a-half
professional turnaround, Galdor was ac
cepted into a clinical psychology Ph D pro
gram. and she is now completing her first
year of study Had she remained in law
school, she’d now be looking toward gradua
tion, a first job, and a bar exam she never
really wanted to take Instead, she's got
another "five, six, or seven years " before
she earns her degree
"I run into people I went to school with,
or people I grew up with, and they can't
believe what I'm doing," she says. "I guess
people categorize other people the same