Paris Atlantic
I have been quite proactive this semester. I figured that's a good thing to be at university - proactive, I mean.
During orientation week, I looked into the creative writing program at AUP (I'm an avid writer, if you guys haven't caught on), and I noticed an EN4000 course where people could work on novels. I emailed the professor, took my placement exams (placed in EN2020), sent him writing samples, and got permission to enter the class! So far, I have been loving the class, and the opportunity to work on my novel and receive feedback from an amazing professor as I do so (still have to take EN2020 sometime :0).
So what does this have to do with Paris Atlantic?
I did a similar thing with the Writing Lab. I emailed them, sent them some of my writing, went in to interview, and have been working as an observing tutor in the Writing Lab ever since (I love the Writing Lab, it is a wonderful place with unicorns and rainbows).
One day, no one was coming in for tutoring help so I decided to work on a drawing of mine. I have been quite into medical illustrating ever since I bought a Gray's Anatomy book. One of the other tutors looked over and saw my drawing and mentioned the Paris Atlantic. The next thing I know, I had a job interview for the Assistant Manager position of the Paris Atlantic!
If you don't know what the Paris Atlantic (P/A) is, it is the university's art and writing publishing group. P/A collects art and writing samples from current AUP students and AUP alumni and chooses which submissions to publish in the journal. They send the journal to various places, including the library of Congress.
At my interview, I found the group incredibly easy to talk with and the job sounded perfect for me. I was beyond excited when they chose me for the position!
It is amazing what opportunities arise through being proactive and through chance.