Letters Home: Amanda Klohmann

Amanda Klohmann is an
interaction designer at
Mutual Mobile in Austin,
Texas. She graduated from the
Missouri School of Journalism
in 2011 with a degree in
convergence journalism.

The following letter from ONA Mizzou co-founder Amanda Klohmann was submitted March 5, 2012

I’m going to start this letter home by telling you about another letter. Right before graduation I was handed a sealed envelope. Inside the envelope was a letter I had written to myself a few years before during one of my first journalism classes. The letter was your typical time capsule style activity; write your goals, write your feelings, write your little journalistic heart out. I remember totally blowing it off.

Instead of putting forth too much effort, I just wrote a bulleted list, a simple bucket list of the things I wanted to do as a journalism undergrad. A few years, a lot of deadlines, and a cap and gown later, this list was the perfect way for me to reflect on my time at the #bestjschoolever. Slacking off on the activity had actually worked out just fine. I used my list to take note of the things I had done. I had joined the clubs, earned the academic honors and even found a way to hang out at the Sports Illustrated offices in New York for a summer (my bulleted list may have been brief, but it was oddly specific about that one). I felt great about all of the items I could cross off, but I quickly found there were things on the list I couldn’t touch, things I had never even attempted.

And now, in this letter home, I realize there was a lesson in all of the un-crossed-off items. It is okay for your dreams and goals to change.