The Career Project
By Annie Clouse 3/9/16
The 8th Grade Career Project by Annie Clouse
The purpose of this project is to open our minds to the wide variety of careers that are out there for us to pursue. Also, we can learn a lot about ourselves when taking the 180 question quiz. We realize what we can do when we get older, and what colleges would suit us. The purpose is not to plan out our entire lives and to decide where we go to college and what we will do for the rest of our time, but it is to view a different perspective. This perspective allows us to explore the jobs we didn't know existed. When we are young, we plan to become something like a movie star, a singer, a firefighter, an astronaut, etc. We have learned over the years that although those jobs are great, they require an immense amount of work and effort to get there, and there are more options than just the standard dream jobs. If you want to major as a therapist, you have to decide what kind of therapist. If you want to major as a doctor, you have to decide what kind of doctor you want to be. The variety of jobs keeps growing each year.
My Career Options
When I took the quiz on jobs that might suit me, I narrowed my options to Art Therapy, Multimedia Artists and Animators and Environmental Design/Architecture. Multimedia Artists and Animators involves a lot of computer programing and codes. I felt that the art and animation part interested me, but I am not completely intrigued with the thought of programming and animating using complex science. That is not something that I would be very skilled with. I also was presented with the option of Environmental Design/Architecture. This occupation deals with designing landscapes and buildings for indoor and outdoor public spaces. I have always been interested in architecture and designing using my imagination and creativity. I didn't choose to do my project on Environmental design because I cannot see myself doing this for a living. The last topic I picked is Art Therapy. This job is working with people with different mental illnesses and those in rehabilitation and other types of therapy. I chose this career because it involves art and helping people get in touch with their creative side. It also helps different kinds of people and can make some people's lives better.
All About Art Therapy
Art Therapy is a way to treat people with mental illnesses and other problems through art. This particular kind of therapy helps people to express themselves and to improve self esteem. It has been proven to improve thousands of people's lives each day. Many companies have come out with coloring books for adults because it is very therapeutic. Art therapy is not just drawing, though. It uses a combination of drawing, painting, sculpting, and sketching. An Art Therapist spends their days seeing patients with different emotional and mental problems such as anxiety, depression, addiction and other illnesses. Also, Art Therapy is for children and people who seek personal incite. I became very interested in Art Therapy because I knew I wanted to do something involving art, and when I read the description, I was sold on the idea of it.
To Be an Art Therapist
There are many requirements to becoming an art therapist. Firstly, I need to major in psychology when going into college because being a therapist requires knowledge of how people with different mental states think and learn. I would have to take classes in art as well. Therefore, I would first attend Penn State University and major in psychology and minor in art education. After I graduate from PSU, I would have to go to New York University and get my master of arts in art therapy. I will attend NYU for 2 years. At first, I will have to volunteer at a facility that offers internships as art educators or art therapists. This is just so I can get work experience in this field. Since I will already have the experience and my degree, I believe that it won't be extremely difficult to find a good job that pays well. Although it may take some time, I know it is not completely impossible.
The Cost
For attending college at Penn State University, the cost of tuition would be about $17,000 per year. For Room and Board cost, it would be another $17,000 per year. All together, The grand total cost for just Penn State is $136,000. New York University tuition is $40,000 per year. Room and Board cost is $30,000 per year. That makes it $70,000 per year, and for 2 years, that would be $140,000.
Salary and Job Outlook
The average salary for Art Therapists is around $46,000. The range is between $30,000 and $80,000 depending on the region, experience and ability to market your practice. "Art Therapists will likely see growth of 12% in their field by 2020."(mastersinpsychologyguide.com)
There is no particular place that I would want to live, but since there are not that many jobs around the world that offer art therapy, I would be willing to live wherever I can get a good quality job that pays well.
Conclusion
The main thing I have taken from this project is how stressful figuring your future is. The most stressful thing was looking at the price for my tuition plus master's degree plus everything else. That really got me thinking about how much money you need to go to college and to get a job. After figuring out the cost, I realized that you pay so much for your education just to find out that your dream job doesn't pay that much, but I think it was good to know that I have to go through this 4 years or less from now.