Career Family Tree Interview Research Paper

For my Career Family Tree, I chose to interview my cousin Elise, my father Will, and my Grandmother Elizabeth. All of them have different careers and are leading very different lives from each other. I felt that this would give me a unique and different perspective on choosing what I want to do with my life. Elise is 24, and a teacher of a fourth grade class for two years. What made me interview Elise, is the fact that just last week she returned from a two year trip in Guatemala. She has spent those years donating her time and mind to an orphanage and safe house, teaching the young children there. She was not paid for her time there, and managed to raise over $8,000 dollars to donate to the orphanage. When I asked her what she felt money is, she replied that it is not something that determines your happiness. She would often call home with stories of the young children playing and laughing without a care in the world despite the horrors they’d had to go through. Elise felt that work is something you end each day feeling accomplished and satisfied. One of the things she said that stuck out most to me …show more content…
She spent almost 45 years as a nurse in the psychiatric ward, while caring for a family of five children on her own. The stories she has to tell seem to be endless and she always talks about her days as a nurse fondly. When I asked her what work is to her, she said it’s “what you work towards for half of your life, and then spend the next half working to be finished with it”. Unlike my father and cousin, she believes that money is what keeps food on the table, and one of the most important attributes of a job. She believes that success is returning home after a rewarding day, with a smile on your face, to a family waiting for you. When I asked for advice about work, she said simply, “do something you love, you’ll be doing it for most of your