In what is considered among the most famous commencement speeches, writer Russell Baker told the Connecticut College graduating class: "The best advice I can give anybody about going into the world is this: Don't do it. I have been out there. It is a mess."
And that was 1995, when the economy was humming, the national unemployment rate was hovering around 5.5 percent and the U.S. was not at war.
Imagine what Baker might say to today's graduates, who are about to enter a more volatile world.
But despite a national unemployment rate of more than 9 percent, gas prices near record highs and U.S. involvement in three wars, local seniors say they are leaving their campus bubble brimming with optimism about the future.
Next on Julie Piernikowski's agenda is a year-long position with AmeriCorps, a national service organization. Piernikowski, a native of Potomac, Md., will graduate from Salem College this week.
In July, she will move to Roanoke, Va., and help a local agency raise money and write grants that will assist poor people.
"I'll be living right at the poverty level, but I'm excited because it gives me a chance to feel the struggle," she said. "It's important for me to understand the experience of the people I'm serving."
A double major in nonprofit management and religion, Piernikowski had hoped to land a job with a nonprofit organization. Earlier in the year, she sent out about 20 résumés but received no offers.
"I knew it was going to be hard to get a job because there are very few people trained in nonprofit management, but all of the jobs wanted people with more experience," she said.
AmeriCorps and other service organizations, such as Teach for America, have become popular choices for new graduates, and not just because of the economy, said Andy Chan, the vice president for career development at Wake Forest University.
"This generation of students really wants to make a difference in the world," he said. "These are alternatives where you can get good work skills and are a tangible way to help. Some may have thought that these were easy options, but they are now very competitive."
Teddy Aronson, who graduates Monday from Wake Forest, will begin a two-year commitment with Teach for America at the end of June. From there, he wants to go to graduate school and major in Islamic studies.
Although he started at Wake Forest with designs on a business career, his trajectory veered dramatically after discovering a love of language and the humanities. A native of Essex Fells, N.J., Aronson said world events also figured into his change of plans.
The more he looked at the world, the more he discovered a need for Americans to engage directly with people in the Middle East.
Understanding their culture and language is the best way to do that, said Aronson, who studied abroad in Jordan.
"Through culture, there is a place for me to fit in in parts of the world where others aren't willing or able," said Aronson, an English major.
One day, he might like to be a college professor or work with a government agency.
"We need leaders to go to that part of the world at the ground level," he said.
The struggling economy and its effect on arts organizations could play a role in Brooke Robbins' career plans. For now, Robbins, who will graduate from the UNC School of the Arts on May 28, is focused on a nine-month internship with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
Robbins studied scene design for theater, a competitive field where people land jobs based on who they know.
For young freelance designers, making contact early is crucial. Yet, because of the economy, some theater companies may not have a large budget.
"Designers are taking on fewer assistants, and assisting well-known designers is one way to get your foot in the door," Robbins said. "You gain connections that way."
Had it not been for the internship, Robbins would be making some tough decisions on where to relocate and what kind of jobs she would be willing to take.
"I was definitely anxious," Robbins said before learning in mid-April that she won the internship.
Not all graduates have a job or internship waiting for them. Some, such as Brittany Tedrick of Salem College, are hoping to get into graduate school.
"I'm just taking it one day at a time and will see where things lead," said Tedrick, who majored in international relations.
Others are looking for work.
Jerrica Scott, 24, graduated Saturday from Winston-Salem State University with a degree in elementary education.
Her academic journey included a few stops and starts. She enrolled at WSSU in 2004 when she was pregnant, quit her sophomore year, then went back to school.
As a student, she got married and had a second child.
Scott has applied for teaching jobs in Winston-Salem but is willing to go anywhere in North Carolina to teach.
"I am crossing my fingers, and I am confident I will get something," she said. "I am keeping my eye on the prize."
Having that college degree is going to give Scott and others an edge in the job market, Chan said.
The unemployment rate for college graduates is about 4.6 percent, about 5 percentage points lower than the national average.
Chan said he tells graduates who are frustrated at their job prospects to take what is available.
"Don't get hung up on the perfect thing," he said. "I try to tell people to just get started."
(336) 727-7420
Annette Fuller contributed to this story.
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