Finding Her Own Path

When Marissa Goffman ’24 began her college search, she knew one thing: she didn’t want to be forced into choosing a lifelong career before she had the chance to explore her options and discover her passions.

“I started looking at liberal arts schools and schools with open curriculums — just something that didn’t put me in a box or make me decide at 18 years old what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Goffman says. 

That freedom ultimately led her to create an independent studies major in Contextual and Cultural Communications Studies, combining linguistic anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and linguistics to examine how language shapes the way people understand and interact with the world.

With guidance from faculty mentors, including Professor and Assistant Vice President for Global Education Brigittine French and Associate Professor Kelly Maynard, Goffman designed a curriculum around the questions that fascinated her most and encouraged further exploration.

Preparing for the Unknown

Today, Goffman has discovered that her unique and personalized Grinnell education prepared her for a career she didn’t initially anticipate.

Goffman now serves as youth director at Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. In this role, she leads programs for students in grades 3–12, mentors teen leaders, oversees youth programming, and communicates regularly with families. She also directs the Eden Prairie High School drumline and spends her summers as a program specialist at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.

Although none of her job titles include the word “communications,” she says the connection to her studies at Grinnell is clear.

Her coursework taught her to consider how language, culture, and lived experiences shape people’s perspectives — a lesson she now applies every day while supporting young people through challenges both large and small.

“My studies of culture mixed with language have really helped with talking to high schoolers,” she says. “It’s definitely helped me understand that they’re in a different spot in life than I am, and to communicate with them more effectively.”

Learning Through Experience

Several Grinnell experiences helped shape Goffman’ perspective. As president of Chaverim, the Jewish Student Organization for three years, she gained leadership and event-planning experience that translated directly into her current work in Jewish youth programming.

Academically, a Faculty-Led Learning Across the Globe (FLAG) course taught by Professor French left a lasting impression. During a spring break trip to Ireland, Goffman and a group of fellow students examined language surrounding the political troubles in the country and witnessed firsthand how different communities interpreted the same history.

“It showed me that the way you’re spoken to and the way you understand language completely affects how you see the world,” Goffman says. “I think that's applicable in any situation, especially with the high schoolers I work with.”

She also credits visiting anthropology faculty member Nikolas Sweet’s Cultural Communication course, which explored how texting has transformed language, as well as the mentorship of Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay, who continues to offer advice as Goffman navigates her career.

Encouraging Others to Forge Their Own Path

After graduating, Goffman didn’t immediately begin a traditional career. Instead, she spent months exploring and discovering what path she wanted to take. She performed with Drum Corps International and Winter Guard International ensembles before realizing that the communications jobs she had been pursuing were not what she truly wanted.

“Working with youth is awesome,” she says. “It’s eye-opening and sometimes it’s really hard, but it’s also incredibly rewarding.”

That willingness to embrace an unexpected path is something she now shares with the students she mentors.

“High schoolers are always asking me what my major was,” she says. “I tell them, ‘Well, I made up my own major. I don’t really fit into a box, and I’d really encourage you all not to try to fit yourselves into a box.’”

She hopes to model the confidence and self-advocacy that Grinnell helped her develop to the youth she works with today.

“Outside of the actual skill sets Grinnell gave me — being a writer, communicating, advocating for myself — being an Independent Studies major meant I had to do all of that all the time,” Goffman says. “You don't have to do this just because someone told you to. You can do what you want. You can step up, be a leader, and advocate for yourself.”