Angel Chen
Angel Chen, Graphic Illustrator
In America, ambition is a virtue that we rarely question. But, like a sword sharpened too finely, it can easily wound its wielder. For students who balance academics, leadership, their careers and social lives, personal drive serves as both the spark and the extinguisher of the fiery passion that directs us towards our futures. For today’s college students, ambition isn’t encouraged: It’s expected.
A constant pressure to stand out as exceptional plagues the minds of those who are working to step out into the world. It is a powerful force that, when applied correctly, can help an individual soar to greater heights. However, this same force can easily backfire when subjected to great pressure.
Rather than inspiring growth, ambition can lead students to compare themselves to others, chasing achievements that seem hollow, and burning every last drop of fuel they have just to keep up.
Ambition promises opportunity, but when left unchecked, can invite anxiety, self-doubt and exhaustion. This drive can be both empowering and exhausting, shaped in large part by one’s environment.
Lilly Kirn, a fourth-year studying psychology, has also been a Mental Health Ambassador on campus for three years. She described the many facets of ambition, especially when layered against the broader life changes that accompany college beyond academics alone.
“[As] a college student, you not only have ambition for your career, but you also have ambition for your whole life and you’re feeling that ambition in so many areas at once,” Kirn said. “It can be really overwhelming and it can take a lot of your focus.”
Yet ambition, for all its sharpness, does not have to wound its wielder. The difference lies in whether or not a student faces their battle alone or with a broader community of care to help shoulder the burden of modern exceptionalism.
At NC State, that community has already taken shape — a community that is meant to transform raw drive into a pursuit that uplifts, rather than overwhelms.
Christy Sigmon works as an Outreach and Resiliency Specialist for Campus Prevention Services and a supervisor of the Mental Health Ambassadors.
“Our campus does a really great job of offering resources and making sure there are many layers to them in different areas,” Sigmon said.
NC State boasts a variety of resources available to students seeking help, and both Sigmon and Kirn emphasize the connectedness of the different branches of support within the vast network.
“We have prevention services, but they also overlap with the counseling center and with wellness and recreation,” Sigmon said. “Getting that information out to students and reducing the stigma around utilizing the resources is really a culture that we have at NC State.”
This community of care extends beyond counseling and prevention services, reaching into wellness and recreation, student engagement and other corners of campus life.
One resource that helps students navigate the many resources available to them is the CARES Referral program.
Within this program, students, faculty or any other individual can submit referrals on behalf of other students or themselves to be connected with an individual who will help them locate resources that can assist them in their specific situation.
We live in a culture that worships ambition. Passed from generation to generation, it is the fuel in the collective engine of success — the sharpened blade that cuts a path toward the future.
If ambition is the blade, then care is the handle that no person should feel ashamed to reach for. The communal culture for care at NC State reminds us all that seeking help is not a sign of weakness, it is a step towards balance.
Tapping into the campus community through its vast resources at one’s disposal transforms ambition from an isolating pressure into a shared journey.
The call, then, is simple: take time to care for yourself, lean on the pillars around you and recognize that the passionate flames of ambition are most effective when they are tended to, not left alone.