Come Home: Five Problems in Paradise

Chapter 2 - Purpose Definition

Maria reflected on her choice to do Agribusiness Management. Now that she looked back on her life after her MBA graduation she realized that it was a pivotal moment.

She remembered how she struggled with A-level Chemistry, yet still pursued sciences at university because she was convinced that she had some natural talent in that area. Both of her parents were scientists, and so at the primary school level, she decided to combine the fields of her parents and make a career of her own.

She attended George's Caribbean College after O'Levels and completed A-level subjects in Biology, Chemistry, Economics and General paper.

She was relieved to be doing Economics instead of Math, which she wanted to avoid as much as possible. She credited her excellent performance in O'level Math to her helpful Math teacher at St. Hilary's - Mrs. Rock and the grace of God. To her that one in Mathematics on her certificate was proof that God was real.

Before she left St. Hilary's there was a guest lecturer by the name of Professor Duncan. He came into the school to talk about tissue culture.

She loved the idea of making little plants in a lab. She imagined that she could feed the world with such a career. At career day in St. George's Caribbean College, a Mr. Steve Maximay shared his book "Careers in Agriculture."

Maria was convinced that this was a real career. In fact, it was a noble one, and she was excited to study Agriculture at the university.

When Maria actually arrived on campus, she got down to the business of being the best she could be. She actually studied. Something she had started in A'levels. With a photographic memory, her innovative imagination and the ability to think quickly on her feet, it had not been necessary to study very hard in the past.

University was different. Maria decided this was her life and she was going to give it her best shot. She avoided the popular bar at the end of campus and avoided guys who seemed to have interests that were more extracurricular rather than academic.

Problems arose in her Genetics class. She was trying to understand the color of the turtle and the Professor's accent at the same time. He seemed to be describing a triple hybrid cross. She just could not solve the genetic problem before her. This was the first sign that something was amiss.

When she got her grades at the end of the semester, reality set in. She got poor grades in both Biochemistry and Plant Science. Her grade in Genetics was awful!

She couldn't believe it. Her dreams to work in her genetic lab were dashed. She quickly realized that she had to find something else to do. She looked over her grades again. She noticed that she received an A in Microeconomics!

That was interesting because she had quite enjoyed her Economics classes at school and her lessons classes with Mr. Kisto in Curepe.

Then she remembered that a new degree was being promoted at the university- Agribusiness. Perhaps her success in economics could assist her in this area.

Nobody really knew if the degree was a good idea, but she decided to take the chance. She wondered what would happen to her little lab. She did not come to the university to fail so it looked like she would have to dream another dream!

Maria dove into her new business classes. There were only seven brave souls who chose to do Agribusiness. She decided to become the class representative so she could control and be involved in what was happening with them. Upon reflection, this is where her management career began.

To her pleasant surprise, Maria excelled at the courses offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences. In fact, she fell in love with a new subject-Marketing. Here were the things she always thought about when she went shopping. All of the concepts and questions that aroused her curiosity was in one textbook.