Some answers can't be found in a textbook—especially when it comes to identifying who we are and who we want to become. That’s why Roadtrip Nation teamed up with Blackboard to pluck three college students from their bubbles and send them out into the real world for a spring break adventure like no other. On a mission to interview people in interesting careers—and find ones they can pursue for themselves—they discover that learning isn't limited to the classroom; every moment holds the opportunity to grow.

University of Life

Blackboard

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School teaches us the skills needed to succeed; but how do we figure out what we want to succeed in?

As technology has become an integral part of our daily lives, there is a growing demand to provide computer science education to all young people, especially those who would not otherwise have access, in order to empower them to become well-informed citizens and imaginative creators. Microsoft YouthSpark is committed to ensuring that all youth have the opportunity to learn computer science, a foundational subject that teaches the computational thinking and problem-solving skills required for success in their future. Microsoft is proud to support Roadtrip Nation's Code Trip. Learn more at youthsparkhub.com 

We're gonna go interview some successful people. >> Just being able to hear their story, where they come from. >> People end up in unexpected places, so it's interesting to talk to them about their life. >> Going to school everything is planned, what life really throws at you, it's completely different from class. Going on the road trip, it's the fastest way to learn what would really happen and not what we think would happen. >> I'd love to be a Graphic Designer for a magazine, I've always loved fashion, fashion magazines, I just think that would be a dream come true. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> How's it going? I'm Amy. >> I'm Kat, nice to meet you. >> So I always wanted to do something in fashion and never thought it was possible and that's all I've been doing for six years, just figuring it out. I didn't know about the field that I'm doing now which is fashion PR, but I really enjoy it. >> I'm a Graphic Design student at Mississippi State, really interested in fashion and would love to work with maybe a fashion magazine one day, but there are some people that are like, graphic design, what are you going to do that? >> Honestly, Mimi, I think graphic design is an awesome major especially for this field. It's a really cool skill that somebody always needs, but you do have to know what voices and what people are saying. Is that something that's true or not true? Is that something that's good for you that's gonna get you to where you wanna be or is it not? >> Her story reflected mine, I don't know I just really needed to hear a lot of what she said. I guess you maybe still trying to find out what you wanna do but keep pushing forward. >> I like astronomy and I like physics a lot, I'm really into space. There's an interview that I'm pretty excited for Tomasso Treu, he's an astronomer. And I thought about astronomy along with physics, but I'm really hoping to hear what makes him passionate about it. >> Hello, hi, Tommaso. >> Chris. >> What's your name, Chris? >> Nice to meet you, I'm Sirai. >> I always knew I wanted to be an astrophysicist but going to this profession is like okay but I could be more useful to the world doing something else. I mean once we have food and shelter we can survive we don't need philosophy or art or science. But then I felt that this is useful, it's one of the things that makes us human. >> Astronomy before I went to college was something I really thought I could do but I just doubt myself a lot. I don't know what to choose, I don't want to make the wrong choice. >> There are many different things that one has to balance when deciding what to do. You have to, you know, make sure you're gonna make a living, make sure you're good at that. But if it's something you're really passionate about, that's usually a good bet. >> Going back to school, I just don't know what career path I want. I thought about astronomy, but I talk myself down too much. It's a massive about finding perspective. You don't want to live your life without at least trying. >> So I interned with Cheryl Dunye and she is a filmmaker slash activist slash professor at San Francisco State. I am interested in politicized film, that just seems like a possible thing that I could get into. I think that's really why I was super interested in her? >> So I started taking women's studies courses, film production courses, African American studies. Luckily I slipped into a place of being the first African American lesbian to make the first African American lesbian feature film, The Watermelon Woman. Film making became this way for me to speak about who I am and what I believe in and finding myself in history cuz I wasn't there. So how are you gonna be whole, how are you gonna be true to yourself and how you gonna get the work done and have the impact that you want? >> I don't really think I thought of filmmaking as a legitimate thing I could do, it seems more possible now. >> I've met some pretty cool people on the road, people to relate to. I've always wanted a mentor, someone to give me advice on what to do. >> And I felt like they had something to say to me, that I could take with me for the rest of my life. 

What the Textbooks Don't Tell You

[SOUND] Normal spring break is sit at home, bored out of my mind because all my friends go to the beach. >> Most of the time would have been spent inside my room. >> A normal spring break for me looks like going home, watching Netflix. Last year it was not memorable at all. [LAUGH] I really don't remember what I did. [MUSIC] >> My name's Christopher Gomez. I live with my seven brothers and sisters and my mom. High school came around and just stopped caring about school. I told my mom I don't wanna do school anymore. My sophomore year I dropped out. So I just stayed home for a while and started reading a lot of science books, like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Nikola Tesla. I knew I wanted to go to college and do something world changing like they did. So I started going to a community college. But now that it's online classes, it's really easy. Being able to do your homework basically everywhere gives me more time to watch my little brothers and sisters for my mom. [MUSIC] >> My name is Mamie Shepard. I am 19 years old. I'm a freshman at Mississippi State University trying to get into the graphic design program. I'm from a super small town in the Delta, you know everybody and their mamas, knock on the neighbors door, hey, can I have some milk? That's a real thing. And if you're not an engineer or a farmer, people don't really take you seriously, even my own parents. So, I'm leaning towards graphic design, and they're like, can you get a job? That's just something that's really terrifying to me. >> My name is Sere Merino, I'm 20 years old. I'm from the South Bronx. I've lived there, I've grown up there like that's all I've known. I got to college and then took a Black studies course and I took sexuality, women and genders studies course. And so I think that's the first time that I really was exposed to this vocabulary of social justice. And it just made sense being from the Bronx, and then a film was just like, I had to, I wanted to do both. I just couldn't choose one over the other. It's just very conflicting for me, because you have to do something that's like, bringing in money, right? Like, law school is on the table, but also, I think what I'm more interested in is doing some non-profit stuff, give back to some community trying to couple both of together and understand where I'll go from there is the hardest part. We're starting our trip in L.A. and we're ending up in San Francisco. >> Were gonna go interview some successful people. >> People that are inspiring to us and our field of work just being able to hear their story, where they come from. >> It's really that exposure that you need in meeting other people who are very unlike you and understanding more about other people so you can understand yourself. [MUSIC] 

Getting Off Campus

Today's the seventh day of our trip. Last day. I think it's really easy to get caught up in the school life. If I wouldn't have looked this up or applied, I would have been missing out on something big. >> What it exposed me to is if it's what you want to do, you've got to do it. >> Try to find something that makes you want to get up in the morning and do it. If it's something you really love, you have to work very hard for it. You cannot control what other people do. You can control what you do. >> If anything I am less afraid of doing things that I love. I think I forget that you can find community in things that you identify with. >> You're not alone on this journey, and I think that's the harder thing. Just feel like, thump, thump, I'm alone, I'm alone. But there's more than just meets the eye. Your story is getting out right now. You made some change, right? You're getting closer to what you want by just doing this act. [MUSIC] >> Just a central theme of this whole road trip has been, you don't know until you try. And every interview that we've gone through said, you know, go for it. Just try it. And that's really what I'm gonna take back with me. There's definitely healthy fear, but there's definitely unhealthy fear. And we build these ideas up in our mind that aren't reality. So truly, the best thing to do is to just try it. It's just something I really love and enjoy, why not go after it? [MUSIC] >> Just gotta not worry as much. That's what I've been working on, is not worrying. Everything works out in the end. And that's how I've been trying to see this trip. It'll all work out. Is how I'll see it when I go back home. [MUSIC] I'm thinking that everything's possible right now. >> If I could sum up this whole trip. This trip is the beginning of the sentence, and then the rest of our life is the ellipse, the dot dot dot. I think that that is what this trip means to me. It's the beginning. And now it's our turn to go and live out the rest of our lives. [MUSIC] 

Spring Break Roadtrip

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