Once upon a time there was a girl named Rebecca who wanted to be a Power Ranger when she grew up. She wanted to live in a Malibu Barbie Beach house, drive a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep, and marry (you guessed it) Zach Morris or maybe even Steve from Blue’s Clues. In her free time, she intended to make Light Bright Art and start a shelter for unwanted American Girl Dolls.

Then Rebecca got a Pet Doctor Barbie for Christmas one year, and she decided she wanted to be a veterinarian by day and a Power Ranger by night. Figuring philanthropy would be too much of an undertaking with her busy schedule – and she might get some flack from the Mattel company for creating competition for their doll hospital – she decided she would drop the shelter plans.

Soon, though, Rebecca received her first edition of USAA U-Turn magazine and immediately became engrossed (pun?) by the prospect (yes, pun) of entering the business world, as did her sister.

One day, the two girls, enchanted by USAA’s stories of children hitting it big time with their neighborhood lemonade stands, decided to try running a car wash out of their rural North Stonington home. As you can imagine, the venture wasn’t very successful. (She blames USAA for failing to mention the importance of location, location, location.)  

Nevertheless, USAA left somewhat of a permanent impression on me – I mean, Rebecca – and the young girl began to think about finances for the future. She decided she wanted to enter a profession in which she would be guaranteed a high salary, plenty of benefits, and job security.

Several elementary school acting stints made her certain she wanted to be a movie star, but, she was aware the employment outlook for the next 10 years for the performance industry was not very high.

Concerned, she decided it would probably be in her best interest to seek employment in another industry. She realized the liability of being a veterinarian-by-day/Power Ranger-by-night was too high for her taste. She decided to seek employment in an equally as noble, but more useful and more secure industry: the space exploration industry.

"Yes," said the wise, learned 10-year-old to herself, "If acting does not work out for me, I will be a NASA scientist. Yes, yes, that will be quite the dynamic – aerodynamic, in fact – profession."

A report on Ernest Shackleton briefly tempted Rebecca to become an Antarctic explorer. Her love of animals, aquatic things, and cool job titles made her also gravitate toward becoming a marine biologist for a short period of time. Soon, though, Rebecca would take her very first course in United States History and learn she didn’t love engineering, physics (or money, for that matter) as much as she thought she did.

And so it was by the time Rebecca entered her first year of high school she had decided she would like to be a historian of some sort.

That is, of course, until she took a political science class and found out she was fascinated – or frustrated, one of the two – by government. And then she took her very first drawing class and learned she could function with art implements. With Photoshop came dreams of a job in advertising, and with world history and biology, archaeology.

Then she discovered her love of art history, and from there, it was nothing but curation work. Her first community theater gigs revived her dreams of the stage and screen. Her work with volunteer organizations and an increasing sense of public duty made her consider spending some time in the non-profit industry. Her first job at the Mystic Seaport reaffirmed her love for the past and turned her on to education and public history work, while, at the same time making her realize she might like to work for the government under NOAA.  

And then she started writing this blog for her local newspaper’s Web site. (You might have heard of it, I think it’s called "The Day," or something like that.) And she said to herself, "Now, writing. That’s where it’s at."

As a college applicant, Rebecca is applying to most schools as an anthropology or archaeology major with "interests in Art History, Political Science, and Journalism" and the intent to minor in "Studio or Theater Arts."

Her new life plan looks something like this: She will go to college and pursue a dual degree in the social sciences and in the arts. She will receive her masters and then seek research work in the museum world, while dabbling in non profit work, theater, and visual art on the side. From there, it’s on to a doctorate, writing, teaching at the college level, and policy work.  

And then she will become President of the United States. Or, if she’s lucky enough, a Power Ranger, which is what she really always wanted to be, anyway.

The End.