The scariest two words in the English language right now would be my first name and my last name. That’s because I’m sitting in a jury duty assembly room and I’m praying that they don’t select me for a case. If I can just make it through another half day, I’ll have served and won’t be bugged again for eight years. Sure, I loved “12 Angry Men” just as much as the next American, but the thought of being on a case for weeks as my work piles up is frightening. Oh please don’t pick me!

But as I sit here, trying to ignore the leg-shaker sitting in the same row as me, who’s making my laptop rhythmically bounce up and down, I’m actually taking advantage of the silence and free WiFi (thank you Brooklyn Supreme Court!) to be quite productive. It’s amazing how many emails you can answer, IM convos you can catch up on, photos you can upload, and checks you can mark on your computer to-do list (update blog — check!) in the quiet of a jury room. No conference calls, no meetings, no 3-year-olds asking for a third mid-morning snack, and no guilt for missing a day of work — it’s bliss! And, all the while, I’m doing my civic duty.

I hate to admit it, but I’m actually loving jury duty. First off, today has been much more pleasant than my last jury service, which felt like being in class with a mean grammar school teacher. I didn’t even have to ask permission to go to the bathroom this time! Plus, I learned from the slightly outdated orientation video that our criminal justice system is comprised of lots of cool jobs beyond lawyers and judges, such as clerks and court stenographers. If you want to get a glimpse into various criminal justice career paths, you’ll be surprised at what you can pick up during jury duty.

Uh oh… hang on. Sounds like they’re going to start calling names. Here it comes. I’m going to get sequestered, I just know it. Then I’m going to fall behind on my work projects. Don’t pick me, don’t pick me…

OK, whew, nevermind, I’m good. I survived that round. Now where were we? Oh yeah, cool criminal justice careers. Despite wanting to get out of here quickly, I actually did sit on a case during my first jury service while I was still in college, and it was so intriguing to see all of the courtroom players in action. It’s not as dramatic as you’ll see on “Law and Order,” but being a part of the process for me was more memorable than an entire semester of Law 101. So much so, that I even considered going to law school (although that notion only lasted for about the 12 minutes that I flipped through an LSAT study guide).

Speaking of 12 minutes, that’s about all I have left on my battery life, so I’m going to cut this short and take advantage of the quiet room to do some more work on my bouncing laptop (isn’t his leg tired yet?). Wait… what’s that? We’ve all been dismissed?! Hooray! You know, maybe it would have been nice to get called to hear another case. Oh well, instead it’s back to my noisy, multitasking reality. This blog is adjourned!

When I was asked to write a guest blog for the CollegeSurfing Insider, I started thinking about the stigma that often surrounds career education. Admit it — no matter how enlightened you might be, you still have an idea floating around somewhere in the back of your head that career school is somehow not a “real” school. It’s a safety school, a fall-back option, a choice for kids who only excelled in shop.

OK, I’m guilty. I recently heard that a girl I know, a bright high school grad, is going to beauty school in the fall. And my first thought was that she could do better.

Or could she?

Maybe I shouldn’t turn up my nose at career education just yet. Consider this: Another friend of mine went to a large state university a few years back, but was unable to land a job after graduation. This smart, motivated guy with a bachelor’s degree in engineering found himself knocking on the door of a local career training school, taking classes to gain practical experience in computer programming. He earned his diploma in computer networking and security in less than a year, got a job shortly thereafter, and today is a supervisor at a leading investment banking firm, supporting his wife, two kids, and a baby on the way.

So back to my friend who’s fresh out of high school. Beauty school might just make perfect sense after all. She’s 18, she’s on her own, and she’s pretty much broke. She knows she needs more than a high school education in order to get anywhere in life. She saw the opportunity to apply for beauty school as well as a generous financial aid package, and she took it. Plus, she’ll be earning money along the way in the clinical portion of the 18-month program. So she’s found a way to get educated, certified, and professionally licensed, and she’ll be able to support herself through it all. Underachiever with a low IQ? I think not.

The point? Career education isn’t for burnouts, underachievers, or kids who haven’t lived up to their potential. It’s for honors students, engineers, self-starters, and anyone else who is driven to succeed. It may even be for me.

-Robyn Tellefsen