FRIDAY, November 6, 2026
Linda Lin
On the eve of her 21st birthday, college junior Adrianna Arnett found herself caught in a crisis.
She was about to enter her senior year, yet she had no idea of what she truly wanted to do in the future. If she chose a new path, would that mean starting over? Could she handle straying from years of preparation towards a future more aligned with her passions?
In 2023, Adrianna enrolled at Centre College in Kentucky: the state where she was born and raised. When talking about her hometown, she laughed and said, “Ooh, it’s an itty-bitty town. We have 1,200 people there. 1,200, that’s it! So everybody knows everybody. There’s more people at my college than there are in my hometown!”
Growing up in such a small community also shaped Adrianna’s understanding of inequality. “I think growing up somewhere like that is where I got a sense of justice. From seeing poverty, a lack of education and so many things that can happen because of where you live,” she explained.
And becoming a psychologist was the main goal she had long mapped out for her future. At Centre, she majors in psychology and minors in social justice, while working at Taco Bell to cover her college living expenses.
She spent her freshman and sophomore years busy settling into college life. By junior year, it was time to act on an idea she’d been carrying for years: studying away.
That year, she attended her Centre’s career fair and sat through presentations about one shockingly expensive study-abroad program after another. It was then that she realized that before pursuing this, she had to face the reality.
"I was really discouraged, to be honest. I assumed I wouldn’t get to go study away or abroad because I couldn’t afford it," Adrianna recalled.
Just as she was close to giving up on any off-campus program, Semester in the City (SITC) caught her eye. Intern in Boston. Live independently. And pay the same amount as a semester at Centre. "If I can't go to Boston, I'm not going," she said to herself.
Even after submitting her application, Adrianna still had some doubt. What if she just stayed home and kept earning money from her job? Or took that class she’d been eyeing since freshman year? Those doubts lingered until her roommate, who was also applying to study abroad in Japan, gave her the push she needed:
“When are you going to have another chance to do an internship in Boston and have it be this affordable?”
Adrianna paused for a moment and replied: "You know what? You’re right."
In the spring of 2026, Adrianna packed her bags and set off for Boston, ready to begin an experience that would prove far deeper and more meaningful than she had ever expected.
Boston’s crowds and public transportation system were unlike anything she knew back home. “Again, my town only had a thousand people in it, so going somewhere like Boston... I was in buildings with a thousand people in it, which was crazy!” she recalled. After leaving her phone on a train once, she had to navigate without it. “I learned how to read signs that day, that’s for sure!” At Boston Partners in Education, however, her initial unfamiliarity and shyness gradually gave way to a sense of belonging.
Adrianna has a rare cinnamon allergy, and her mentor, Alejandra Monge, and the rest of the team made sure to remember it. Whenever food was served in the office, they always made sure it was cinnamon-free.
Beyond scoping food out for cinnamon, Adrianna described Alejandra as a big sister who offered guidance, far beyond the scope of the internship.
When Adrianna was initially too shy to approach her colleagues, Alejandra gave her a gentle challenge to use Google Chat and reach out to every person in the organization.
“I did it,” Adrianna recalled proudly. “I got there. I talked to everybody.”
Time, however, continued moving forward. As her 21st birthday approached, the pressure and uncertainty she felt about the future triggered a quiet wave of anxiety.
“I’ve always felt like I was running out of time. This makes birthdays especially difficult,” Adrianna admitted.
During a one-on-one meeting with Alejandra, Adrianna finally opened up about her crisis.
"I’m going to turn 21, and I don’t know what kind of job I want to have anymore. I’m going to be a senior in college and I don’t know what I’m doing!"
Adrianna was no longer certain that she still wanted to become a psychologist. She did not know whether the career she had chosen still suited the person she had become, nor was she certain whether this seemingly safe and financially secure choice was simply a compromise she had made in planning her career.
Alejandra did not rush to end the meeting. Even after they had gone over time, she stayed back, patiently listening to Adrianna’s fears.
"You’re only going to be 21. You can branch out. You’re allowed to take up space. You’re allowed to get the education you want,” Alejandra said, “You’re allowed to pursue whatever career you want. Money and time aren’t everything, but fulfillment and being content with what you do might be."
Fast-forward to today. After completing SITC, Adrianna completely re-evaluated her path. She hopes to work in the nonprofit and social work space, focusing on mental health, education and under-resourced small communities like the one she grew up in.
“If I learned anything through my internship and Semester in the City, it’s that I have worth. Despite being from Kentucky, despite having an accent and despite maybe not being ahead of the curve, I do have value,” Adrianna shared.
To prospective students standing at the threshold of the unknown, hesitant to take the leap, her advice is simple.
"I would tell the student that the person that comes out of this internship is going to be completely different than the person that went into it.There's so much you have to learn, there are so many things that are going to put you ahead of the curve that you're so scared of for some reason. It's going to put you where you're scared you'll never get."
At some point in growing up, many of us may experience a period of conflict and reconciliation with ourselves. When we face the unknown, a plan can give us a sense of security. But when it becomes a road that allows no turns, what once protected us can gradually become a cocoon that restricts us, no longer able to contain the person we are becoming.
For Adrianna, the opportunity to break free from that cocoon began with a single spring in Boston. The experience nurtured her growth and sense of fulfillment, allowing change to take root quietly. She returned to Kentucky with a deeper belief in herself, ready to take flight toward possibilities that had never been written into her original plan. Boston did not decide where she should fly, it simply helped her believe that she had the power to choose her own direction.
No matter how terrifying starting over may feel, she is, after all, only 21.