Dwell in Possibility

It happens in a blur. The crowd cheers, “Pomp and Circumstance” plays, graduation caps fly, and then, in a flurry of tearful hugs and congratulatory exclamations, the moment you’ve worked toward for years has passed.

Now what?

I remember the strange limbo period in the days following college graduation well. Distraught at the prospect of moving back into my childhood bedroom as if the last four years had never happened, I crammed my old Camry with as many of my belongings as possible and spent a summer afternoon hauling them into the dining room of a house down the street from my alma mater. I had four undergraduate roommates, a taped-up tapestry instead of a bedroom wall, a fresh journalism degree, and no job. The graduation cap I had bedazzled weeks before with Emily Dickinson’s words, “Dwell in possibility,” seemed to glint menacingly.

Even for those fortunate enough to have a job lined up after school, the jump from academia to professional life can be a jarring transition rife with uncertainty. In 2019, the Harvard Business Review interviewed 54 recent college grads who described feeling exhausted, lost and anxious, with one summing it up: “Everything’s a struggle.”

To dwell in possibility — of a degree, of a dream job, of a safer food supply, of a better future — it’s necessary to inhabit the unknown, uncomfortable as it may be.

You don’t have to be a recent graduate to relate to these emotions.

A sense of unease has permeated the food safety industry following the government’s mass firings at agencies like the FDA and USDA — including a targeted effort to terminate probationary workers, many of whom were likely fresh grads — with industry leaders concerned about how these cuts may threaten the safety of the U.S. food supply (read more here). My LinkedIn feed has been flooded with heart-wrenching accounts from scientists, researchers and other food safety professionals who lost their jobs. The USDA also axed two longstanding food safety advisory committees.

Now what?

Major changes have flung many off-kilter, and the road ahead is uncertain. But to dwell in possibility — of a degree, of a dream job, of a safer food supply, of a better future — it’s necessary to inhabit the unknown, uncomfortable as it may be.

The three recent graduates we profiled in our cover story faced unchartered territory while leading with curiosity, assuming a hands-on attitude and leaning on community. Their advice to those nearing graduation feels applicable to anyone unsure of the road ahead.

As McKenna Mahnke, a food safety and hygiene supervisor and 2020 graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison, put it, “I learned that everybody gets to their end goal in different ways. It’s not just one straight path.”