As part of our special senior section, The Beacon will be featuring one senior with interesting post-graduate plans each day for the rest of this week. First, The Beacon spoke with senior global business major Katie Heitkemper.
Heitkemper will be working as a hiking and cycling tour guide for Backroads Active Travel after graduation. After Backroads’ touring season is over in October, Heitkemper plans to travel through Southeast Asia, starting in Vietnam and working her way through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka by herself with nothing but a bike and backpack.
“I knew I wanted to work for Backroads after my interview with them,” Heitkemper said. “All of us (trip leaders) went to a bar and talked for like two hours. And I was like, ‘These are the people I want to be with.’ The people come from all over, different career paths and different ages.”
Heitkemper will train with Backroads in May for two weeks to be a trip leader, and then will be sent to lead trips somewhere in the United States. In October, all of the Backroads trip leaders will travel to Vietnam for a biking trip around the country. After that, Heitkemper will stay behind to trek through southeast Asia.
Heitkemper, who interned at Nike Headquarters last summer, wanted to fulfill her dream of traveling before getting a typical job.
“The closer I get to graduation, the less I want a mainstream job,” Heitkemper said. “I want to do this stuff while I can. If you can get paid to do what you love, just do it.”
Heitkemper says she recommends students travel after graduation if they have a passion to do so.
“If I did just go and get a desk job in Portland, I would be limiting myself and holding back from what I really want to do,” she said. “If you have that passion and desire to do that, then go.”
