I recently finished reading “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott. For those of you not familiar with the tale it is the coming of age story of the four March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Now, if you talk to someone who has read the book, or seen the movie, you’re likely to hear about Jo and Beth as favorite characters. Meg isn’t really on anyone’s radar, not surprising since she is more or less a non-character in the second half of the book. Amy is the obnoxious one, and it seems she usually gets a bad rap.

It’s ironic, however, because Amy gets arguably one of the best lines in the book, “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

This line comes as the story draws to a close; the sisters are grown and they have weathered the trials and joys of growing up and the death of Beth.

I’ve written columns before about education and the changes that are coming to our school systems. I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about, and having conversations about my experience in one of the local systems, about my university experience and about what local districts are trying to do and the vision they are trying to realize in preparing their young people for tomorrow. About what I liked, what I loved, what I wish had been different and what I wish I knew as I went from an institution of higher education to the rest of life. About the way the world is and the challenges that Millennials face as a generation.

I believe that students and recent grads need to have a voice in the changes that are coming. After all, it is our lives that our being scrutinized and their lives that will be affected. As I’m sure our readers know, finding living wage jobs amid the worst recession since the Great Depression has been the chief struggle we as Millennials have faced as we have come of age. I like to think that this challenge could become one of our biggest strengths.

This is the way the world is and we have to find a way to live in it. We must find a way to sail our ships and weather the storms individually and collectively. That’s part of growing up. Every generation before us has had to figure it out, too. I think the challenge will be good for us.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I learned a lot in the time in between graduation and my first real paycheck. There were good times like seeing my friends Erin and Elyse graduate, road-tripping across the country with Karli, standing with my sister Becky as she got married and with Karli when she did too, and the birth of my niece, Emma.

Then there was the hard stuff. The countless, and sometimes seemingly endless, job rejections, and two cancer diagnoses in my family. Sometimes I wondered if I would ever be a writer. But through all of that I learned. About not giving up and fighting for your dreams. About sticking it out and holding on. I know those are lessons I’ll take with me into the rest of life.

Last week was my 24th birthday and my sisters did something incredibly cool: they framed my first column for me. See, it wasn’t just a column, it’s a reminder of everything I went through to get there, to get here.

As a generation we tend to get a bad rap. As with anything, some of it’s true, some of it isn’t, and it’s easy for the good stuff to get overlooked. That’s one of the reasons I love telling students’ stories and giving a voice to the cool things they’re doing in our community. There’s a lot of awesome stuff happening here. Coincidentally, if you know a student who is doing something cool, shoot me an email or give me a call. I’m always looking for story ideas.

In the end, after all the classes, tests, sports, extracurricular activities, programs and everything else, it is up to us to make the most of what this world has given us and to take on the storms we face, and as Amy said, to learn to sail our ships.

Reach Katherine Smith ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com or 425-432-1209 ext. 5052.

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