With senior projects over with, and the end of the semester coming to a close, it was time for me to get busy with another crazy project: a job.

During my junior year, I searched near and far for an internship that would suit my interest in photography. I looked everywhere trying to find someone who would take me. Eventually, I had found Rachel Olsson of Rachel Olsson Photography, and the best internship of my life had begun.

Beyond learning all about the photography industry, I got the opportunity to work with companies like Aloha Kissed Jewelry, Duo at the Four Seasons Resort Maui and SanMar.

When my 40 hours for the internship were over, Rachel gave me an option to continue my internship. I was seriously stoked out of my mind.

Not only was this my first internship, this would also be my first real job!

I got the text one day asking if I was available to help on a shoot in Makena, Maui for a model — Sydney Mills.

Yes, Sydney Mills from Project Runway! Crazy, right?

When I got to the location I could hardly contain myself. Here I was, a 17-year-old, aspiring photographer, at a photo shoot with an elite photographer and a top model.

Could this day get any better?!

The shoot went on effortlessly, and when I took a look at some of the shots we got, I was awestruck; they were beautiful.

At the end of the day I couldn’t get myself to wrap my head around it. I had always dreamt of the day I would become a photographer, and I knew that the steps to get there wouldn’t be easy. But here I was doing exactly what I thought I would be doing, just a few years earlier.

So besides being able to brag about how amazing my day is, you might be asking yourself, “Why should I care?”

I’m basically trying to tell you that it’s okay to dream big.

We all have the power to attain even the most outrageous things that cross our minds, and if you don’t let yourselves dream big, then what’s the point of living? To just exist? To drift on the tides of fortune?

Well, I’ve had a taste of my dream, and it never would have happened if I didn’t make it happen.

Do good, even great, things happen to people who do nothing? Sure, once in a bazillion times. You have the power to better those odds. Set goals. If you don’t, there’s nothing to reach for, nothing to work for.

The end of the year is coming up, and that means New Year resolutions. Make a list of all of the things you want to accomplish in the next year, 5 years, and 10 years, and then, make then happen.

Sometimes people say, “You’re so lucky! You get to….” I don’t want to make those people feel bad. I mean, they just complimented me, but I have news for them. It’s not luck.

Create your own serendipity, or in my case, sur-endipity, and take charge of your own luck! Best wishes!