Multipotentiality: One Graduate's Journey

Today’s blog post is brought to you by Alpine Valley School graduate Vanessa Hennessey

When I first encountered the title “multipotentialite,” I knew it was me instantly. While the term wasn’t coined by her, I learned the word from writer and career coach Emilie Wapnick, whose TED Talk “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling” went viral and was shared by a friend of mine on Facebook. In essence, she describes that multipotentialites have a range of interests and jobs over one lifetime. Multipotentialites often aren’t able to answer the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” We may have some nebulous idea, or we can think of a few things that may or may not seem to have anything in common. I know that was always my answer when someone asked me that question as a kid: “I want to ride horses. And be a writer. And a singer. And maybe a dancer, too!”

To this day, this question confuses me, and when I look over my schooling and career history, it is very clear to me that the title of “multipotentialite” suits me to a T. When I first watched this TED Talk and then subsequently went and googled what it means to be a multipotentialite, memories of my time at Alpine Valley School came flooding to me. I realized that many kids who spend time as students in Sudbury Schools - and even after they graduate or move on from those schools - can be seen as multipotentialites. When you are in a space where you are free to explore whatever you want, the possibilities are endless. I alone participated in a myriad of activities and classes, including, but not limited to, history (European and American), American Sign Language (still one of my loves), writing (another passion I still hold onto), Japanese (again, something I still study from time to time), French, Spanish, German, dance, art of various types, music and singing, geology, geography, learning the bagpipes, and even math. This doesn’t even include the day-to-day activities that one naturally falls into while at AVS - discussing every topic under the sun, conducting last minute experiments, raising money for events or school clubs, running for and serving as JC Clerk or School Meeting Chair, taking drives to places off campus, playing tag outside, playing tag inside, and a list of other activities that would be a mile long. And possibly most importantly, I learned about who I was - and am - as a person. This included having so many interests that didn’t seem to have anything to do with each other.

I will confess that I woke up the day after my graduation feeling a little lost. AVS had become such an important community to me, where I felt I belonged, where I was family. I had some plans, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to implement them - I was 19 and still had so much life to live. So, while I figured it out, I decided to get a job that would pay the bills so I could move out of my parents’ house.

Fast forward to where I am today - 35 years old, 15 years after graduating from AVS, and I have had countless jobs, lived across Colorado, Canada, and even in Europe; have 2 post-secondary degrees, am married, am planning on starting a family, and am - you guessed it - still figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. This may sound threatening and scary to some people reading who are considering a Sudbury school for their children, but I assure you - I am not very different from many other people out there. There is a whole community of multipotentialites - in fact, I joined Emilie Wapnick’s online multipotentialite forum, where we discuss how to navigate our varied interests, whether or not to make them into careers or just enjoy them as hobbies, what kinds of jobs to pursue that will support us in our searches, and how to live in a society that is slowly changing, but still largely holds onto the idea that you must pursue one type of career in order to be successful. The many jobs I have held have led me to where I am - they’ve taught me that I enjoy searching, they’ve taught me what I don’t want to do, and they’ve taught me what I do want to do. Paired with my experience at AVS, I have realized that I take the “Slash” approach, which Emilie Wapnick would say is having two or more part time jobs or businesses. This does bring along some challenges, such as figuring out how to save for retirement and working harder to get paying work, but something I learned from experience while at AVS is that you must work hard to get anything you want or need, and you have to do some things that you might not like in order to get the result you do desire.

There are many ways that multipotentiality shows up in a school like AVS. One of the most important aspects of being a student at AVS is that you will get bored - and this is actually a blessing. Without boredom, there would be no action taken, and multipotentialites also realize that boredom can be an important clue about moving on from something that is no longer interesting or no longer serves a person in some way. The way we work is also slowly changing. The “gig economy” has become more prevalent in our society, moving away from working at one company for 30 years and retiring at 65. More and more people are starting businesses. Being a multipotentialite, and learning to pivot between interests and passions at a school like AVS, can help prepare us for this inevitable change in the work sphere. And multipotentialites - and students coming out of Sudbury Schools - tend to “think outside the box [...]. [Embracing and using] their multipotentiality can inspire widespread movements and make significant social contributions,” as Emilie Wapnick writes on her website. This is certainly seen in graduates of AVS, who are engaging in many interesting careers and causes.

Not every person who attends AVS as a student will identify with the term “multipotentialite.” But I think it is seen more often than not in this environment that leaves space for exploration and growth that will translate into action and productivity beyond the walls of AVS. While I’m always figuring out what I’m going to be doing next, I am happy, fulfilled, and never stagnant. I owe this to my time at AVS, and to my discovery that I am indeed a multipotentialite.

Links:

Emilie Wapnick TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling?language=se

The Putty Tribe: https://theputtytribe.com/

Putty Like: https://puttylike.com/