It’s been four years of parties, playing Frisbee on Driscoll Lawn and pulling all-nighters the 10th week of the quarter in order to survive finals – and then suddenly it’s all over.

What’s a DU graduate to do?

About 1,100 students have applied for graduation, and many will be asking themselves this question following DU’s undergraduate commencement ceremony on June 7, which will start at 10 a.m. in the Ritchie Center’s Magness Arena.

For some, the world of academia is far from over. Judging from the class of 2007, almost 12 percent of graduates will be attending grad school in the summer or fall. About 16 percent plan to attend graduate school within the next year, and 39.5 percent expect to attend graduate school within the next five years.

For the 20.5 percent of graduates that don’t plan on attending graduate school, it’ll be time to put into action all the lessons learned in college in order to snag a job. Still others will venture into the so-called real world on an open highway without a map, hoping for the very best.

So, what next?

Here is what three graduates of the class of 2008 are planning.

 

Megan’s Story

Megan Kimble owes her post-graduation plans to the DU study abroad program.

“My time abroad has definitely profoundly influenced what I wanted to do after graduation, first in Argentina and then in Ecuador,” Kimble, a Spanish and creative writing double major, said.

On Aug. 1, Kimble is moving to Nicaragua to teach English at Playa Gigante, a 500-person town that has become a popular place for tourism in recent years.

“They want to start an English-language program to help the residents become more involved in this new tourism industry,” she said. “I’m happy to stay there for six or eight months. However long I feel like I’m being useful.”

When tourism dies down in December, she hopes to travel.

“I want to go south, wherever that leads me,” she said.

Kimble knows that she will face some unique challenges after moving abroad.

“I feel like I’ve established and surrounded myself with a great community here at DU, so it’s going to be weird not being here,” she said. “Nicaragua is very different from anywhere I’ve been, and it’s still a developing country. It’s poorer than anywhere I’ve been.”

Despite being a Spanish major, Kimble is nervous about the language barrier she will encounter in Nicaragua.

“I speak Spanish fluently, but I’m not a native speaker,” she said.

Kimble, who also studied creative writing, hopes to write while abroad.

“I want to give myself the liberty to write for a year,” she said.

After studying abroad in Argentina as a junior and participating in an International Service Learning Program in Ecuador, Kimble developed a love of travel and the Spanish language, which she said she wouldn’t have if she had not studied in a Spanish-speaking country.

“It took me a lot of figuring out of different avenues to get here, but I’m really pleased with how my double major has prepared me,” Kimble said. “I feel fairly confident going into this pretty crazy endeavor that I’m prepared.”

 

Joy’s Story

Joy Klee has only been at DU for two years, but she knows where she’s headed. Klee will apply for the Peace Corps this summer and plans to join them next spring, where she will spend 27 months abroad, providing trained work to people and areas looking for help.

“I’m really hoping they’ll send me to Asia, Thailand or Cambodia, but I’m not in charge,” Klee said. “They’ll send me wherever I’m qualified for.”

The program requires three months of training and then two years of in-country service. Klee, who was born in Vietnam and was adopted by an American couple when she was 7 years old, hopes to spend some of her time with the Peace Corps in Asia “because I’m most comfortable there since I was born in Vietnam.”

After those two years, Klee hopes to return to Denver, find a job and save enough money to attend culinary school.

“I’d eventually like to open my own bakery in either Denver or Portland,” she said. “I was taught to cook when I was 12, so I love to cook.”

One day, Klee wants to settle down and have a family, but she’s most excited about “the prospect of owning my own bakery and having customers enjoying my pies.”

Klee originally attended Red Rocks Community College in order to be close to home so that she could care for her ill mother. After two years of completing general education requirements, she applied to CU Denver and DU. At her father’s urging, Klee chose DU.

“DU has changed my thinking about the world – it’s not black or white, good or bad all the time,” she said. “There is a whole spectrum of different ideas, and there are a lot of smart people out there who know a lot of stuff.”

Klee also feels that she is more informed about substantial issues like social inequality thanks to DU, and thinks college has given her patience because education and learning take time.

“You learn to think for yourself, not just what your professor and peers say,” she said. “You can make your own decisions about big issues.”

Ultimately, Klee wants to give back, spending her time in the Peace Corps serving others and then opening a bakery to serve the hungry public.

“I wanted to do something productive with my life and realized that being in academia after college wasn’t for me,” Klee said. “I want to do something that will benefit everyone – because everyone needs to eat.”

 

Matt’s Story

Matt MacCarthy has lived 17 of his 22 years in Denver. In a matter of weeks, he is leaving everything he knows to move to North Carolina in order to attend the Duke University School of Medicine.

“I’m most scared about leaving,” MacCarthy said. “All of my friends are here, all of my comfort zones are here, everything I’m familiar with is here.”

Shortly after graduation, MacCarthy, who has cerebral palsy, will be performing with the theater group PHAMALY, or the Physically Handicapped Actors and Music Artists League.

“It’s been the highlight of my summers for the past six years,” he said.

MacCarthy, who is also a member of the a capella group, the DU Indiosingcrasies, got involved in the company after seeing a production of “Damn Yankees” in 2001 and has participated in six shows with the troupe.

PHAMALY’s production of the musical “Side Show,” which opens June 7, will be MacCarthy’s last with the group, at least for the next four years.

MacCarthy, a Boettcher scholar with a biochemistry and molecular biology double major with minors in Spanish and medical physics, may be pushing his comfort zone by moving away for grad school, but he knows he’s ready.

“My academic training has prepared me for entry into medical school,” he said. “I’ve also gotten preparation to move in to the real world by having to manage my own time and do my own scheduling.”

Although MacCarthy is aware that college, although a step up in independence from high school, is still a very sheltered environment, he “really appreciates the breadth of experience” he received at DU.

That knowledge will eventually help MacCarthy decide what kind of medicine to study at Duke. Eventually, he hopes to move back to Colorado and become a doctor.

“I’m really looking forward to the next great adventure,” he said, “but it’s going to be really sad to leave everything I know.”