I left academia in search of meaning

A photo Carole submitted of herself to be published with this piece

By Carole Trone, as told to (and ghostwritten by) Haley Young as part of a series spotlighting participants in a passion-project incubator called Gignite

I moved to Madison 27 years ago for a PhD program at UW with no intention of sticking around. I’m from Washington, D.C. originally, and I always thought I’d get back there.

But I got comfortable.

That PhD in educational policy studies took a long time. My oldest daughter was three months old when I began and 11 years old when I finished.

This past summer, I realized I was too comfortable. It’s easy to get settled in your ways in a particular job and to go through the motions  — and that’s made me really unhappy.

I needed a challenge, and I wanted to force myself out of my comfort zone.

So I quit my job to pursue a passion project called Understanding College.

I know it’s a gutsy move, especially at 51.

I was compelled to accomplish the things in my life that I always vaguely thought I could or should do but never did.

What I’m trying to do is use the expertise I gained through my PhD in ways that can be truly useful for students, parents, and counselors.

I want to make the college experience better understood.  I want to inform students about what they’re getting into and how to be successful.

One missing piece of the puzzle for many students is that college is about more than technical skills.

The “soft” areas of learning and life experiences are so much bigger than I once realized they were.

The social and emotional aspects matter. It’s the small things like body language and smiles or being told you’re appreciated and getting positive feedback.

I’ve come to realize how huge those pieces are not only in creating impactful learning experiences but also in human interaction as a whole.

I became a better teacher during my time at UW when I expanded my understanding of what constitutes a thoughtful response. Everyone engages with new information differently, and I draw a lot of energy from the enthusiasm of others.

And when you’re in college, you’re constantly meeting new people.

Those experiences are so eye-opening and formative — but in my current stage of life they don’t always happen naturally. I missed that. So I’m doing more reaching and networking, trying to replace complacency with meaning.

You have to intentionally break out of your social circles.

I’m also being deliberate about the projects I choose to work on.

Two former African American colleagues and I have been meeting weekly to discuss the racial achievement gap in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s gap is the worst in the country, which is pretty shocking.

We focus on bringing positive energy to our collaborations and are working on creating solutions to foster a better climate for people of color. It goes hand-in-hand with my Understanding College project, but it’s grown into its own initiative.

Making this total career shift has been scary at times.

But it was the change I needed.

I love the new possibilities that are open to me. I’ve found that I get easily lost in looking at other business problems and identifying gaps, so thinking about the ways I can help move the ideas of my colleagues forward is exciting.

There is a concept called “first follower” that I find myself embodying: the first person to embrace someone else’s initiative and help grow it into further success.

I don’t just find meaning in my own work .

I see it in the ideas of others that I can try to help build into a reality. I’m not always the primary innovator, but even then I can still play a part in transforming the world around me.

One of my big priorities in this last year has been to actively seek out positive examples and think about practical ways that I can be the change I want to see in my world.

Prioritizing healthy work dynamics has made me less stressed and more effective. I’ve become more intentional about reading and writing about the issues that I think are important, and less anxious about how others might judge my work.

I am learning a lot from observing the mindset and persistence of younger entrepreneurs and freelancers. Now that I’ve made the leap to advance projects that I developed, I know that there’s no room for complacency.

This shift has really enabled me to throw myself into the work and offer my best effort. There is no time for autopilot!

This doesn’t mean that I don’t have misgivings…

And the occasional panic that I will fail.

When those moments happen, I remind myself that I promised to focus my work where my efforts could really make a difference.

I know this doesn’t guarantee success, but it does challenge me in a way that I’ve been needing for a long time.

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