Part of navigating this first year out is knowing that you’re not alone and no one has it all figured out yet. Your classmates are facing the same challenges and new experiences as you.

Those challenges may look different for different people (studying for the GRE, laboring over the perfect cover letter, living with a difficult roommate, winning over a new boss), but know that you’re in good company.

In that spirit, I’m rolling out a segment where we check-in with a few of your classmates and see what they are doing and how they’re navigating their first year out. Oh, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to ask a few “this or that” questions about some UVM/Burlington/Vermont stuff.

Today, we’ll kick off the first check-in with Ben Kennedy, Dominique Powers, and Ali Chipouras.

1. What are you up to? Attempting and oftentimes failing at adulting. How many exemptions do I put on my W4? Will I go to jail if my credit card bill is a day late? How many days in a row can I forget to take the chicken out of the fridge? How do I run out of underwear and socks so fast when I have a whole drawer of them? I wonder why nothing is getting done while simultaneously watching dog videos for four hours because I’m an adult and no one can stop me.But – I sometimes do okay at adulting as I recently became the Learning Coordinator for the Tutoring Center within the Center for Academic Success at UVM, and I’m also pursuing my M.Ed. in educational leadership.

2. What are you most excited about in the next year? What are you most scared about in the next year? I am most excited to continue to be at UVM, working on my master’s, and setting the world record for petting the most dogs in a year (if that doesn’t exist I’m going to create it). Honestly, I’m most nervous about the fact that I directly supervise over 30 students but I only graduated a hot second ago. Do they see me as an adult? Do they respect me? It’s a really interesting dynamic and learning how to draw the line between supervisor and employee, when I was just in their position a few months ago, is really hard to navigate.

3. What has been the best thing since you graduated? The worst? I would say living a little on the outskirts of downtown is both a blessing and a curse. I lived on campus for four years as a part of ResLife staff, so I had become accustomed to living steps away from all of my involvements and having a meal plan. You realize that complaining about the food was the least of your worries, because at least someone else was cooking for you, and sometimes the lack of freedom in the reshalls was worth it for the convenience of being so close to everything you needed. However, living in a quiet house with a big backyard is worth it – even if I sweat through my dress shirt on my walk to campus every day.

1. What are you up to? I work in the Equipment Room at Pier 59 Studios, which is the biggest (and in my opinion best) Photography Studio in NYC. I set up and break down equipment for the shoots, which with 11 different studio spaces can be a lot!  Because the space is so large (over 100,000 sq. feet) and has such great amenities there’s a lot of big name photographers, designers, producers, and models that come through our doors.  As someone who grew up roaming the mountains it’s definitely a new environment, but an exciting one!  I also do my own work and photo retouching on the side which keeps me creatively engaged and challenged- it’s so important to do things for yourself.

2. What are you most excited about in the next year? What are you most scared about in the next year? I think this next year will set a precedent for those to come. I have big plans and lots of goals for what I want to accomplish. I’m excited to be living and working in a city with so much opportunity and so many interesting people. I look forward to meeting others who as are as passionate about what they’re doing as I am. A big fear is that I’ll get so wrapped up in work I’ll forget about the little things I do that I find meaning in, like going to yoga once a week, reading in the park, or playing my ukulele. The mindset of the “New York hustle” is very real — to be the best here you have to be better than so many incredible people and I see how easily the grind wears people down.

3. What has been the best thing since you graduated? The worst? There have been so many good things! Starting a career in a field that I am genuinely excited about is a big one. A super fun/crazy/exhausting thing I got to be a part of this September was New York Fashion Week. Pier 59 totally transforms for the week and instead of photo studios there are 3 different runways and a presentation space. There were anywhere from 2 to 5 runway shows every day, a few of which I was the Venue Manager for, and a few I got to shoot Behind the Scenes for Pier 59’s social media. I never thought I would be at NYFW so it was an incredible experience to be working so intimately with it.

1. What are you up to? I just moved to Bozeman, Montana and started a new job as a Wellness and Interpretive Manager for Delaware North Companies (a dining and hospitality company) at Yellowstone.

2. What are you most excited about in the next year? What are you most scared about in the next year? I’m most excited to ski out west and most scared of grizzly bears.

3. What’s the best thing since you graduated? The worst? The best thing has been moving to a new place and meeting new people, and the worst was leaving Burlington.