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In my last year at Grinnell, I hope to take advantage of all of the opportunities I have left. I am very excited for what’s next!

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Kalea craved individualized attention, flexibility, and community. Through the tennis team, graduate-level research, and off-campus study in France, she found all that and more!

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Sophia Carroll

parkjung2 — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 20:39:48 +0000

Sophia Carroll parkjung2 Wed, 07/24/2024 - 15:39

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Sophia Carroll

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San Antonio, Texas

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Gender’s, women’s, and sexuality studies with policy studies concentration

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Why Grinnell?

I went to an academically rigorous high school with around 1,700 students, similar in size to Grinnell. My high school was right in the city, and it provided lots of flexibility and opportunities for exploration.

Although I had a tight-knit community in high school, I often felt like an outsider. For college, I looked for a community where I would truly belong.

During my visit to Grinnell, I had a strong gut feeling that this place was right for me. I was impressed by Grinnell’s travel opportunities, the support provided to students on campus, and the vibrant community full of interested and engaged people.

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Why Grinnell?

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First-Year Connections

I started my first year at college with lots of things that I wanted to do: I wanted challenge myself academically, expand my skills, grow my social circle, and try new things.

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First-Year Connections

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Dorm and Student Life

I was placed in Kershaw Hall with two swim teammates. Because my roommates were also teammates, we bonded quickly, and this instant connection motivated me to reach out to more people.

I was quite lucky in my first year: I felt supported by the coaches and the swimmers, and everyone looked out for me.

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Dorm and Student Life

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Above is a picture of me and my first-year roommates building a snowman together!

And although I built my first community within the swim team, I also enjoyed being able to build an identity outside of sports. Because Grinnell is a Division 3 school and has a smaller student body, it was easier for me to foster a sense of community throughout the campus.

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Swimming

Throughout all four years of my college experience, I have been on both the varsity swim team and the club water polo team. Last year and this year, I've served as captain of water polo team. This year, I'll be captain of my swim team.

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Swimming

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Our water polo team recently switched to a new conference and competed against Division 1 schools. To prepare for the competition of this new conference, I coached the team a little bit, and we had a great time.

As captain of the swim team this year, I hope my team can branch out of our immediate circle and find communities outside of the College. Everyone has so many experiences in so many walks of life, and it’s great to learn a little bit about each other.

I also hope to build up the Queer Athletes and Allies organization on campus and foster a deeper sense of community among fellow athletes.

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Off-Campus: Global Learning Program

Even before I started my first semester at Grinnell, I knew I wanted to do a class through the Global Learning Program (GLP).

During my first year, I took a GLP class called "New and Emerging Infectious Diseases." We went to South Africa and Hawaii during break and studied how wildlife and humans interact at the intersection of parklands and cities. We also learned about how diseases impact social systems.

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Off-Campus: Global Learning Program

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Major Findings

Although I came into Grinnell as an intended anthropology major, I realized as a first-year student that anthropology didn't fully scratch my intellectual itch. Thankfully, I felt that Grinnell's open-style curriculum gave me more than enough opportunity to explore.

In my second year, I read through some course offerings and loved the topics I saw in the gender, women’s, and sexuality studies (GWSS) major. Because of GWSS's interdisciplinary nature, I could study history, anthropology, and more — all in the same subject!

I asked my GWSS friends for their recommendations on the best adviser. After hearing their thoughts, I emailed Professor Beauboeuf from the GWSS department for a time to meet and discuss about the possibility of her becoming my adviser.

Now, thanks to my major, I have tools to create a more loving community in my life. Not only do I know how to elevate voices in non-harmful ways, but I also know how narratives can either support or neglect groups of people.

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Major Findings

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Off-Campus: Nashville!

I'm thankful to have had many off-campus study opportunities at Grinnell. After my GLP class, I took a course-embedded travel course involving country music. We traveled to Nashville as a class over spring break.

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Off-Campus: Nashville!

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In my second year, I did a country music-related course-embedded travel class. We traveled to Nashville and recorded country music on Music Row!

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We visited the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

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We had a lot of fun in the city of Nashville.

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My classmate, Emma Schaefer ’23, and I are drumming up a storm at the Sun Studio in Memphis!

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It was an amazing time.

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Funded Internship

The summer after my second year, I did a summer internship in Olympia, Washington, that focused on conflict resolution and mediation. My internship was fully funded by our career advising office.

At the Dispute Resolution Center, I developed valuable skills that I still use every day. I learned about restorative justice, a process to heal harm without causing further harm to communities around you. I also gained experience in resolving conflicts for others and myself.

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In my free time, I hiked at Mount Rainier National Park and saw mountain goats and bears!

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Off-Campus: Denmark!

After going to Nashville, I decided to commit to a full semester of off-campus study, and I chose Denmark.

During my time in Europe, I hunted giant forest trolls in the woods, watched the World Aquatics Championships in Berlin, and had a great time!

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Off-Campus: Denmark!

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I went troll hunting in Copenhagen!

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I met up with a fellow Grinnellian in Copenhagen!

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I visited Glyptoteket, an art museum in Copenhagen!

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I also enjoyed visiting Amsterdam during my time abroad.

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Initially, I saw this as an opportunity to be away from the political burnout and mental health challenges I dealt with in the United States. But ironically, I came to appreciate American systems during my time in Denmark. Even though I had been so frustrated in the U.S., I at least knew how to resist the systems in place. I initially felt lost in Denmark, because its political system was a completely unfamiliar beast to me with its own history and complications. Eventually, I came to understand and appreciate the Danish approach to life and community.

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New Hobbies

After I got back from Denmark, I was super excited to throw myself back into the Grinnell community. In the process, I found of lot of new hobbies, including ceramics and spoon carving. The cup below is one of my favorite creations from Grinnell's Stew Makerspace.

This year, I want to continue doing both and explore more art.

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New Hobbies

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Happy Memories!

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Happy Memories!

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After my second year at Grinnell, I competed in the Open Water National Championship in Miami, Florida. It was a truly magical time!

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We had a lot of fun in Nashville! We were there for our course-embedded travel class.

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The northern lights in Grinnell were truly beautiful!

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We learn a lot in our classes, but we also have a lot of fun!

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Career-wise, I know that my career adviser — Sarah Barks, the technology and data career community director — and I will figure it out together. I’ve met with Sarah over the summer to brainstorm how I can apply the skills I’ve built up at Grinnell to a future career. I’ve loved doing Stata analysis in my classes and I am confident that I can turn this into a career.

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Enamored with Grinnell's off-campus study opportunities, competitive swim program, and environment where she could be herself, Sophia took advantage of her time at Grinnell to the fullest.

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Nora Leahy

parkjung2 — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 21:17:41 +0000

Nora Leahy parkjung2 Wed, 01/24/2024 - 15:17

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Why Grinnell?

I attended a medium-sized rural public high school, and I got a lot of experience working with people from diverse backgrounds, which set me up for the opportunity to explore classes in college.

I didn’t realize I’d be interested in the things I am today. There’s more to education than just science, math, and English! I am now taking religious studies and Chinese classes, which I had no comparable equivalent to in high school. I’m grateful to have been able to explore these new fields as a college student.

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Why Grinnell?

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First-Year Explorations

When I got to campus, I initially had all my college plans lined up: I was going to graduate in three years, I knew exactly which courses I would take, and I had decided which clubs I would participate in.

But it turned out the things I had planned for myself weren’t actually enjoyable for me.

I’m glad that I didn't continue down the path I had planned for myself. College is ideally about enjoying the things you do, and I am glad to have switched up my plans.

Academics

Unexpected Passions

I took my first art class during the pandemic my first year. Making art and being creative were really cathartic for me. It steered me in the direction of art, something I never anticipated wanting to study.

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I even got to present my own art at Grinnell’s Smith Gallery, where Grinnellians can display their art on campus. Many of my friends and classmates came to visit.

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My Support System

Throughout my time at Grinnell, I’ve had three advisers. I still feel connected to all three!

I have my tutorial adviser, who taught my First-Year-Tutorial class; I’m still close with him. He still stops by to chat with me, and he helped me out with my Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) in 2022. He is very invested in my future.

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I also have my studio art adviser, who I’ve now taken three classes with. The possibility of his becoming my adviser arose naturally when we had early conversations about the studio art major. The ask was casual: “Hey, would you be my adviser?”

For my East Asian studies concentration, I am advised by the department head, who is great. I wanted to have her as my adviser because of my interest in doing a research project with her. I wanted to do a project on Architecture in Taiwan, and she teaches art history and is from Taiwan. She was incredibly helpful in answering any questions I have.

Community

During my first year at Grinnell, I did a lot of exploring. There was a lot of trial and error — many wins and disappointments. But ultimately, I found my group and organizations I genuinely loved being involved in.

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Meredith Neid ’24 and I have been close friends since our second year at Grinnell. We’re also coworkers in the Office of Admission!

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Grinnell winters can be cold!

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Here I am at Dari Barn, the local ice cream shop! This was on the last day of the season, before they closed for the winter.

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My art seminar classmates and I traveled to Chicago as part of the class. It was great to explore the art and the city together with them.

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One of the organizations I joined was Swing Society. This was a great way to de-stress and be physically active.

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A Voice to be Heard

I also missed the student government side of school and wanted to be a part of these decisions again when I returned as a second-year student. I became a senator in the Student Government Association (SGA) and then switched over to the Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC).

SEPCs serve as the student voice for decisions made within each major and/or concentration. They often help out with faculty hiring and reviews, looking at the curriculum, bonding events, and more. It’s a fulfilling role for me because of the great people I get to work with.

I’m really glad I explored so much during my first year. I never felt tied down to any particular club, and the people in organizations were all encouraging as I tried out new things.

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Food and Community

Starting at Grinnell

The Global Kitchen Community

I started working at the Global Kitchen during my second year. The Global Kitchen is a space where students and faculty can cook food for classes and for leisure. Lots of students — especially international ones — use the space in their free time, and my Chinese class made dumplings there once.

The Global Kitchen also uses food as a means for engaging globally with others and for looking at inequalities and injustice. The social aspect of the Global Kitchen really helped me establish a better community for myself since I was working with people constantly.

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Food and Community

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Under Their Wing

When I first started, I had no cooking experience; I had to be taught how to chop an onion and how to cook vegetables. My two bosses in the Global Kitchen really took me under their wing, teaching me everything from the basics.

Now, I am able to cook all kinds of foods. The Global Kitchen makes community meals for large numbers of people in the community; at a community meal we did, we hosted an event with over 150+ people.

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Addressing Injustices

Although Grinnell doesn’t have an urban planning department, the subject is something I am pursuing further now. Learning how the community gardens where we get our produce taught me a lot about issues related to urban planning, such as food systems, sustainable and developmental consciousness, urban beauty, and making cities better places to live. I’ve learned so much from my interactions with local farmers and gardeners. Overall, I’m glad I got to learn about these issues from the community and my bosses at the Global Kitchen.

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Because I work in the kitchen, I’m surrounded by food. I have enjoyed talking about the cultural significance of food, and I have discovered a deep gratitude for the amount and types of food we can get at Grinnell. The things that I got to eat as a child compared to the things I get to eat now at the Global Kitchen are so different.

Mentored Advanced Project (MAP)

I also pursued a research project over the summer at the Global Kitchen. After a conversation with Professor Todd Armstrong, I pursued a Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) after my second year.

The title of my MAP was “Food, Culture, and Experiential Learning in the Liberal Arts.” I looked at how cultural exchanges can be shared through food. An Innovation Fund Grant funded the research and helped us define how we might use the new Global Kitchen space in the future. I created a manual about my proposed curriculum for summer learning in the kitchen.

At one meal I hosted on campus one summer, I hosted an event with 50+ people as part of my MAP!

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For the project, I met with Professor Armstrong every week. I also volunteered for community meals using ingredients from the Grinnell College Garden. When there was extra produce, I donated it to a local food pantry. Usually, the Global Kitchen doesn't source ingredients from community gardens. But this time was an exception.

It’s so important to get outdoors and interact with people beyond the College campus. By interacting with the community, I was able to help address local food and nutrition insecurity — two things that are very important to me — and get my hands muddy for a cause I care about.

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Off-Campus Study

For an off-campus study experience, I interned at an after-school art program for high school students in a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood in Philadelphia. Since the neighborhood had a community garden and I wanted to practice my Spanish, this was a perfect opportunity to be involved with both areas of interest.

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Here are some pictures from my time in Philadelphia, including a community garden and my after-school art program internship.

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This was the first independent living experience I had beyond Grinnell. I had my own apartment, handled my own transportation within the city, and learned to value that independence.

At one point, however, I realized just how much I had normalized my support network of friends and professors back at Grinnell. I got sick when I was on my own, and that made me miss the home that I had made for myself at Grinnell.

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After graduation, I will be pursuing a master's degree in city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This summer, I am working as a summer community engagement coordinator at the Carolina Center for Public Service.

I am confident that the flexibility and adaptability I’ve developed at Grinnell will serve me well, and I am grateful for all the opportunities that Grinnell has provided.

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Nora arrived at Grinnell with her college life planned out to the T. Fortunately, none of her plans came true! With new passions and community, she explored new horizons.

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Sophie Noyes

parkjung2 — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 21:33:26 +0000

Sophie Noyes parkjung2 Thu, 12/14/2023 - 15:33

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Why Grinnell?

In my college search, I wanted something smaller. My high school was a competitive suburban high school in Illinois. There was a lot of pressure to go to the “perfect” college, and I was excited to go somewhere more collaborative.

My big thing was community: I wanted to go somewhere where I felt I would belong, be happy, and thrive. I wanted individualized attention and to not be just a face in the crowd.

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Why Grinnell?

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I visited Grinnell twice, and during my second visit, I realized, “Oh wow, this is it.” I was touring during a polar vortex with some admitted students and current students. It was freezing but we made it an enjoyable experience. Then, when I looked up and saw the stars, I thought, “Oh yeah, this is my place.”

I love it here; I still adore this community and this place. I feel so lucky to have the community I have here.

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Community

First Year

Sometimes, community kind of just happens to you. Some part of it is going around and looking for it, but other parts aren’t as much.

I met my best friend during my first year before we started classes. At the time, she was two doors down from me, and she was also a fellow night owl. Now, she’s my ride-or-die.

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Theatre’s “Frequent Flyer”

In high school, I did a lot of theatre. I did sketch comedy, I was heavily involved in my theatre group, and I worked as a counselor at a summer theatre camp.

And at Grinnell, I’ve done at least one show every semester. The theatre department even says that I’m a “frequent flyer,” which means I’m an honorary member of the theatre department even though I’m not technically a theatre major. For me, the big thing that theatre has done is build a community and an outlet for my creativity.

My Theatre Roles

Here are some of the roles I’ve had:

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Theatre’s "Frequent Flyer"

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I was the lead in “Do You Feel Anger?”, which is a satirical take on sexism in the workplace. I got to wear pantsuits and get harassed in the script.

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My third year, I participated in “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” which is a play that Lucy Polyak ’23 directed as her Mentored Advanced Project (MAP).

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I have always done theatre at Grinnell, including working backstage as a stitcher for some of the recent theatre productions.

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I have even taken a couple of theatre classes here. I took a class on theatrical design and costume construction, for example.

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Lessons from Theatre

I don’t plan on working in the theatre industry, but thanks to theatre I’m good at public speaking, meeting new people, and being outgoing. I believe theatre teaches empathy and how to understand and connect with other people. Many of these are innate in me, but theatre helps curate that. The impact of how creativity can help people is something that I will take into my mental health profession.

This spring semester, I’m a teaching assistant for theatre professor Karie Miller, who is new here. I will TA for her “Intro to Theatre” class as a part of the Liberal Arts in Prison program. I’m very excited; this TA position combines my love of theatre with my passion for working with marginalized populations.

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Lessons from Theatre

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Search For Balance

If I could give advice to my younger self, it would be: You don’t have to do it all. It’s okay to prioritize things you care about and not do everything all at once. It’s okay to try to look for balance. It’s okay if you don’t find that in your first semester. You’re figuring a lot of things out, and it’s okay if you’re feeling alone in the first semester. Be patient with yourself.

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Service-Filled Gap Year

Online classes during my second semester of first year just didn’t work out for me, so I took a year off.

Grinnell made it really easy; my financial aid didn’t change, and I was still welcomed when I came back. And during my year off, I worked as a nanny with kids who were attending bilingual school online.

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Service-filled Gap Year

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During this time, I also started volunteering with Crisis Text Line. This is a 24-hour texting hotline that people can use when they are going through any sort of crisis. I trained to be a volunteer there and have been doing that ever since.

After two years of volunteering there, I have put in over 200 hours on the platform and helped over 360 people. This has really reinforced to me that I want to help people in bad situations and support them with their mental health.

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Back in Business

When I came back to Grinnell in 2021, I was in a new class year. I have no regrets about my time away, because I got to have my whole experience at Grinnell on campus, doing what I love here in person.

New Understandings

I arrived at Grinnell thinking I was straight and cisgender, but now I am leaving with the knowledge that I am queer and nonbinary.

The openness of the community and befriending more queer people has really helped me understand more of the forces at play and understand my experiences in a different way.

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Research and New Knowledge

I’ve also been able to do related research in classes, thanks to the flexibility of Grinnell’s curriculum. In my “Social Psychology” class, my group partners and I researched how queer and straight couples publicly express their affection differently.

We presented our findings to the school, and the research — titled “Kissing at College: Public Displays of Affection in Straight- and Queer-Presenting Couples” — still lives on the walls of the Noyce Science Center.

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Healing From All Angles

I’ve always been interested in people and the human brain, and I want to put that interest toward making the world a better place.

Before I got to Grinnell, I was interested in my mental health. I’ve been in therapy for years, and I took AP Psychology before Grinnell. But at Grinnell, my desire to be a clinician arose.

Exploring and Widening Horizons

Thankfully, I didn’t have to only choose psychology or a solely therapy-oriented track. Grinnell’s open curriculum made it easy for me to study both psychology and Spanish, which were what I had always wanted to study.

Mental Health with an Open Curriculum

Because of the individually advised curriculum at Grinnell, I’ve been able to explore a lot of things and find a lot of connections between them.

To my surprise, a lot of Spanish teachers liked teaching topics that relate to mental health. And I’ve taken a “Religion, Healing, and Health” class that ended up being informative for my future practice. From that class, I learned many different ways we can approach people’s health from a spiritual perspective.

Two classes I took in religious studies really opened my mind and made me very accepting of other people. If we had a minor, I would have had one in religious studies and another in sociology to further enhance my knowledge of humans from either a more socially scientific or humanities-related perspective.

Mental Health with an Open Mind

People are dimensional: we have experiences that makes us who we are. If we want to know who someone else is, we have to look at the full picture and approach them from multiple different angles; it can’t just be through one method. Any client of mine is going to have to tell me everything, from multiple angles, and I will use my knowledge of the varied subjects I learned at Grinnell and beyond.

In my practice, I know I’ll have a holistic approach to healing as a result of the classes I’ve taken here. Not only will I be able to connect with people in two different languages, I’ve also gained a really well-rounded and holistic worldview.

Mental Health with an Open Community

My work in theatre has also related to creating healthy community here. Psychology is everywhere because humans are everywhere.

When I was younger, I thought that I needed to be some kind of hero and be a big deal, but Grinnell has taught me that you can change the world in little ways, working on a smaller scale. Even if you help one person, that improves and changes the world.

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When I was younger, I thought that I needed to be some kind of hero and be a big deal, but Grinnell has taught me that you can change the world in little ways.

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Off to Spain!

Part 1: Two weeks in Spain with Seminar Classmates

My first journey with Spain started in a Grinnell Spanish seminar class that involved travel in the curriculum, also known here as a course-embedded travel class.

The topic was “Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film,” taught by Professor Nick Phillips. During spring break, I explored Barcelona, Seville, and Madrid with my Grinnell classmates!

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Off to Spain!

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Together, my classmates, professor, and I took a bus from Grinnell to the airport for our flight to Spain.

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Learning in Spain was great!

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Here, I spent time exploring with Merel Timmermans (a former admission student worker), Anika Jane Beamer, and Gabe Ferguson.

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As part of the class, we went to a cathedral.

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Part 2: Semester in Spain

I want to Salamanca, Spain for my off-campus study program to improve my Spanish. I was there in spring 2023, and it was amazing. Not only did Grinnell make study abroad so easy and affordable, I did a homestay with a family, and we were like a little family for those few months.

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Prepping for the Future

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Prepping for the Future

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I want to become a licensed social worker therapist/counselor. Then I will save up enough money to move out and get a masters degree in social work.

As a fourth year, I bothered our career center (Center for Careers, Life, and Service) pretty frequently; they’ve had some awesome info sessions about mental health professions where we can talk to alumni. That had given me some great insight about how I can fit into this world.

I also networked and reached out to Grinnellians who are doing some hard work out there. Some day, I will be a very kind alumni who anyone can reach out to and host them, perhaps in an apartment with my two cats.

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I am now a community support specialist at Thresholds, which is an organization that offers services to people living with mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The position has been amazing. I know that the things I’ve learned at Grinnell will stay with me forever.

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Sophie looked forward to a college community. From being theatre's frequent flyer to their passion for mental health and therapy to studying in Spain, they created one with people they absolutely adore.

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Andrea Suazo Rivas

stolzeja — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:06:18 +0000

Andrea Suazo Rivas stolzeja Thu, 12/14/2023 - 10:06

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Why Grinnell?

I’m from San Pedro Sula, the second-biggest city in Honduras. I went to a very small school where I got to know my teachers and all my classmates well. I knew all the faces in my high school. Therefore, I was interested in attending a small college with a similar environment.

This is San Pedro Sula, Honduras, my hometown.

Grinnell found me — genuinely. They emailed me, asking me to apply. That’s how I found out about Grinnell. It was a small school, so it ticked my checkbox. It also seemed to offer so much financial help in terms of free applications and good financial packages.

I also got my first ever snail mail from Grinnell, which is crazy. Honduras doesn’t have a good mail system, but Grinnell somehow figured it out. No other college did that. That was exciting to me, and it made me feel so special. I felt like an individual and not just another number to them.

I ended up choosing Grinnell because I felt so welcome.

Andrea Suazo Rivas

I did a virtual tour and I liked that. I also learned through the website that the international community here is pretty strong. That attracted me to Grinnell as well. I ended up choosing Grinnell because I felt so welcome.

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Why Grinnell?

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Coming to Iowa

Leaving home was a bit scary.

What made it harder was that it was during Covid. Fall semester of my first year, I was in Honduras, taking classes online. Thankfully, Grinnell let us come to campus for the spring semester. It was my first time traveling alone by air — I was scared of TSA! It was my first experience with winter, too, and my first time seeing snow. I had no winter clothes!

At Grinnell, I experienced winter for the first time and learned that snow can be beautiful.

Here I am making an angel in the snow!

Grinnell put me in a residence hall with a bunch of other international students. We all had our own rooms, but we still had a little community. We also had an IPOP mentor — a fourth year who lived in the same hall with us. He would organize get-togethers and he encouraged us to eat lunch and dinner together. Even though I didn’t meet many people that year, I had this friend group, and they’re still my friends now.

Because of the pandemic and being at home during my first semester, I spent a lot of time feeling FOMO for the first-year experiences that I had missed out on. But now that I’m a senior, I feel like I didn’t miss out on anything. I just had a completely different experience.

I think it was unique and I value that a lot.

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Coming to Iowa

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Classes and Choosing My Major

I was open to the possibility of changing my major and I explored a lot of different courses, but psychology and neuroscience are still what I love.

Andrea Suazo Rivas

I’ve wanted to do psychology since I watched a documentary about the brain with my dad when I was in the seventh grade. I wanted to study the brain, and I came here with that in mind. I was open to the possibility of changing my major and I explored a lot of different courses, but psychology and neuroscience are still what I love.

Outside of my major, I’ve liked my English courses and an intro to video production class where we got to make a lot of movies. That was super fun. Even though I didn’t like history in high school, I thought I’d try it out here. I actually loved it! I took two more history classes. I also took a GWSS (Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies) class. That was an eye-opener for me, and I loved it too.

My academic advisers have been very helpful. My adviser has known me from the beginning. I met her first year, first semester, and she’s always guided me. She is amazing, and I am very grateful to her.

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What I Love To Do

I really love participating in ISO activities, like Cultural Evening (shown here).

Here, I’ve been highly involved with the international community. I have volunteered at International Student Organization’s [ISO] events like Food Bazaar and Cultural Evening. I’m also a cabinet member for the Latin American Student Organization this year.

And this past year I was an International Pre-Orientation Program [IPOP] mentor where I got to introduce eight awesome new international students to Grinnell — that was lovely.

This year, I was a mentor at the International Pre-Orientation Program [IPOP].

I’ve also done several presentations about Honduras at the Grinnell middle school and here at the College, sharing tidbits of where I am from with my community here. That is meaningful to me.

Besides that, I am part of the Psychology SEPC (Student Educational Policy Committee) where I help plan department events and seminars, act as a liaison between professors and students, and provide student input when the department is hiring new professors! It is time consuming but I love seeing behind the scenes of the department and contributing to it.

I was so excited to see a northern cardinal for the first time!
Photo by Mary Ellen St. John, Wikimedia Commons

I also love birdwatching. Sometimes I walk around in the mornings, looking at birds and trying to take pictures. There are a lot of pretty birds here, but I think the most special bird I remember seeing for the first time was a northern cardinal. I’d never seen one before and when I saw it, I was so happy.

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My Internship

I’ve been doing an internship with a psychiatric research institute in New York for a year and a half now. It’s been completely remote, except this past summer, when I had the opportunity to go in person.

Careers, Life, and Service has been helpful in so many incredible ways during my time at Grinnell.

Andrea Suazo Rivas

I work with a neuropsychologist, helping in whatever remote capacity I can with their research projects. My mentor there is focused on helping me explore neuropsychology.

It was amazing to go to New York to work in person. I had other international friends from Grinnell who were doing internships there. We were all in awe of New York City. We lived on the Brooklyn side of New York City. Our view toward Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty was spectacular at night, every night. We got to explore the city together. We experienced many cuisines and had boba tea down the street!

Our view was spectacular, every night! We got to explore the city together.

Both my summer internships were funded by the CLS [Careers, Life, and Service], which was nice. CLS has been helpful in so many incredible ways during my time at Grinnell.

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My Internship

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Study Abroad

By studying abroad in Denmark, I learned about a completely different political and social system. Denmark is often called the happiest place in the world but there are issues everywhere. I think we should stop trying to compare ourselves to another place that has a completely different historical and political context.

In the fall of my third year, I went to Copenhagen, Denmark. I did the DIS (Danish Institute for Study) in Copenhagen program, which is a popular choice. Over a thousand students from all over the U.S. go each semester. It was probably one of the best experiences I have had in my life.

It opened my eyes to so many new things about the world and about me (I learned that I love to travel to nature places over cities, for example). It was my first time visiting someplace outside Northern and Central America, and that was fantastic.

It was eye-opening to be in Denmark because their social and political system there is different than what I’ve experienced before. They also study psychology a little differently compared to the U.S., so I loved gaining a different perspective. Additionally, Denmark is very distinct culturally, and I loved learning about it from Danish people.

I also did a lot of traveling. I went to northern Norway and Iceland and saw the northern lights in both places. That had always been my dream. Then I came back to Iowa last semester, and the northern lights were visible from Grinnell as well!!

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Friends and Fun

Here I am building a snowman with my friends. My advice: warm clothes are a must!

My first year, I lived in Cowles residence hall, and most of my friends that year were also in Cowles. We were all international students, and so we were excited about snow. We built snowmen, went sledding, and had snowball fights. So fun!

Second year was my first full year on campus. I got to venture outside of Grinnell. I went to Iowa City for apple picking. My family came to visit Grinnell. I also attended my first Harris party (a Grinnell must).

My friends threw me a birthday surprise, which was nice. I also did a lot of the international student events for the first time — Food Bazaar and Diwali, for instance.

Third year, I went abroad to Denmark. One of my best friends was there with me, and my boyfriend was doing a program in Budapest at the same time. We all did a bunch of traveling together when we could. When I came back in the spring semester, I lived off campus with friends. That was lovely — to live with my friends all in the same space, cooking together, doing things together.

We’re all seniors now, trying to make memories and enjoy our last year here at Grinnell. We’ve gone camping together at Diamond Lake near Montezuma [a small town near Grinnell]. It was super fun. And we went to Puerto Rico for fall break. One of my roommates has a dog, and it’s fantastic to have a pet to unwind with.

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Looking ahead

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Looking ahead

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I am at that point in life where I see many different directions in front of me, and the path is not so clear cut for me. I think I want to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology, to eventually build a career in a clinical setting, helping diagnose and rehabilitate people having issues with cognition.

Before I dive into a Ph.D., though, I've found a job to work with a clinical population. I’m interested in working with patients with dementia and/or working with traumatic brain injuries or stroke survivors.

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Post-Grad

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Currently, I am a research patient coordinator at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), which is the largest medical center in the world. In this role, I recruit and assess both acute and chronic stroke patients at hospitals within the Texas Medical Center and collaborate with a speech-language pathologist.

On a day-to-day basis, I administer cognitive examinations, conduct MRI scans, and analyze behavioral and neuro-imaging data. I hope to continue working as a patient coordinator for a few years before pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology.

There are many opportunities that would not have been available to me if I had not attended Grinnell. From building soft skills such as writing and communication to providing research opportunities both inside and outside of classes that enhanced my technical skills, Grinnell prepared me extensively for this position. I will always cherish the Grinnell professors and staff for their dedication to providing me with such an enriching education.

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Grinnell made Andrea feel like an individual and not just a number. She was also attracted to Grinnell's strong international community.

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Izzy George

stolzeja — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 17:31:47 +0000

Izzy George stolzeja Fri, 12/01/2023 - 11:31

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Why Grinnell?

I went to a small private school and wanted to continue being in a small community — I liked the relationships I could build with my teachers. I wanted another small, tight-knit community that was not too far, but also not too close, to home. And the liberal arts stood out to me because I had this plan of studying biology, but I also wanted to be able to take a wide variety of classes. It ended up being beneficial for me when I completely switched up my major and what I wanted to do, and I was able to do that easily.

I attended the admitted students’ weekend in March and had a blast. We had a nice meal in the Harry Potter room (the former Quad Dining Room), and it was so beautiful.

The former Quad Dining Hall reminds me of some of the great scenes from the Harry Potter movies! It’s now a dramatic setting for many college events, like this Diwali celebration.

I went to an improv show that was hilarious. I could see that special community at Grinnell where people are having fun together. It felt welcoming.

At Grinnell, people seem to value being with each other and cherishing that time together, I think, in a happy way.

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My Virtual First Year

It was a rocky start because of the pandemic. All my classes were virtual, including First-Year Tutorial — a class that all new students take to develop writing, presentation, and discussion skills. It was hard but I think my tutorial professor did a good job of helping us bond with each other. He partnered me with Cicely, who’s now my best friend.

After the pandemic when we were all able to come back to campus full time, I have been able to find that close community and make the connections with my professors that I had been hoping for.

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First Year

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Cross Country

At Grinnell, I’ve been able to run cross country and track and I’m one of the captains of the women’s team this year. That’s been cool just to be able to see how I’ve grown through the years with this team. It’s been a great community to have outside of academia. Running gives me a place where I can go and shut my brain off and be with a lot of my friends.

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Choosing My Major

I came in thinking I would major in biology and pre-med. Both my parents are doctors. The plan was to follow in their footsteps.

My first year, I took all the courses that would set me up for pre-med. My second year, I remember distinctly, my friends and I all had some reading to do before the first day of classes. I had my organic chemistry textbook and I got four pages into the introduction, and I just started crying. I was like, “I can’t do this anymore.”

I called my parents and told them, “I just don’t like biology or chemistry.” I immediately met with my adviser, and he was reassuring. He told me, “This is normal. A lot of people go through this.” He helped me talk through all the options and brainstorm what I was interested in. He asked me, “Well, what did you enjoy taking last year?” I told him about my anthropology class, and then I looked into other anthro classes and added two to my schedule. I enjoyed them and just kept taking more until I declared my anthropology and Spanish double major.

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Izzy George ’24

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“I immediately met with my adviser, and he was reassuring. He told me, ‘This is normal. A lot of people go through this.’”

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Music

I took percussion lessons in my first year and piano lessons last fall. That was fun. I got to play in a recital in the chapel, which is beautiful.

This semester I’m taking organ lessons. It’s a completely new instrument to me. I just had my first lesson last week, and it was awesome. It’s such a unique instrument.

I got to perform in a Halloween organ concert at Herrick Chapel.

Did you ever wonder what organ pipes look like from above? This is Grinnell’s organ in Herrick Chapel. It’s a historic instrument that was recently restored.

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My Internship

Classes

One of the anthro classes I took was called Illness, Healing, and Culture, which is essentially a medical anthropology class. My final project was about doulas and the role that they can play in reducing obstetric racism and lowering maternal death rates, especially among Black women. I had that idea of pursuing a career working to reduce racism in health care and obstetrics, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with all that. My internship at the Redleaf Clinic showed me one possible path I could follow.

Internship

My summer internship at the Redleaf Center for Family Healing at the Hennepin County Medical Center was meaningful to me and pertinent to what I want to do as a career. The clinic works with pregnant and parenting people suffering with severe mental crises, usually depression or bipolar disorder.

I worked as a research assistant, doing various tasks that the senior researcher needed me to do, such as a literature review. Toward the end of the summer, I also did a lot of grant writing.

Putting It All Together

In the end, my internship at the Redleaf Center showed me that I don’t necessarily want to go into research, but that’s also helpful to know. I’m interested in that field anyway — the health care system and underprivileged people, and mental health and mental illness, with this nuance of pregnant and parenting people.

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Study Abroad

I wanted to study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, but I was a bit nervous! I went to Granada in southern Spain, where I lived in a dorm with 10 other students. Once I settled in and met the other students, I was like, “This will be okay.”

Here I am (front row, third from the right) having a picnic with my study abroad friends in Spain.

I took classes that I wouldn’t normally take, like Cross-Cultural Psychology, Islamic Garden Architecture, and a class about Granada and its urban arts and culture. It was cool to take classes that were completely outside of my major.

We took several trips within Spain but our big trip was to Morocco, which was fascinating. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life — I’d never been in a place that was so culturally different. We were there for four nights total and stayed with a family for two nights. We had host sisters and brothers, and our host mom would make these huge vats of couscous — it was the most delicious food I’d ever had!

We also went to a hammam, which is the baths they have there. We went with our host sister and all bathed together around a bunch of strangers. I just had to keep an open mind going into it and remind myself, “This is different from what I usually do, but I’m going to try it out and enjoy it.”

It ended up being a super cool experience. There were whole families there, moms with their kids, and people just chatting. It was important for me to keep an open mind to these experiences that I knew were going to make me slightly uncomfortable but that would also be so valuable.

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Taking Care of Myself

This year, just cherishing the time with my friends is super important. I’ve had a goal of improving my self-care this year, which has been good for me — putting down homework at a certain time and going to bed, which has never been a boundary for me. And just being intentional with everything that I do. I’ve gotten better at focusing on the stuff that matters.

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Taking Care of Myself

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Friends and Fun

For fun, my friends and I like to go to different events on campus that take place every weekend, like Harris parties and Gardner concerts. For a calmer night in, we sometimes do game nights and play different board games or card games — Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is always a favorite. We also like to explore different events in town, like Jingle Bell Holiday, or go to Uncle Bill’s Farm when it’s open. We also sometimes take trips to visit nearby places like Iowa City and Pella to go shopping, go to new restaurants, and relax. Sometimes, we also bake something or cook a meal together. I also like to run on the weekends with my teammates, practice piano and organ, and read.

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Hopes and Plans for the Future

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Passions and Possible Paths

I’m interested in pursuing a career working to reduce racism in health care and obstetrics, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with all that. My internship at the Redleaf Clinic showed me one possible path I could follow.

There’s also a public health program at the University of Minnesota that focuses on mothers and infants and maternal health care. I’m very passionate about that.

Making It Real

I have some appointments with CLS (Careers, Life, and Service) scheduled to help me sort it all out, and I’ve spoken to some of my professors about possible opportunities. Just taking that first step of making those appointments, I think, is going to be helpful going forward.

The professors truly care about my success, and the open curriculum allowed me to create my own path and discover what major was best for me. I know they’re going to be there for me this year, and I want to be able to continue that connection even after I graduate.

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Izzy wanted a small college that was not too far from home, but also not too close. She wanted to take a wide variety of classes. Grinnell hit the sweet spot.

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Harvey Wilhelm

parkjung2 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 20:50:20 +0000

Harvey Wilhelm parkjung2 Tue, 11/21/2023 - 14:50

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Why Grinnell?

My high school definitely prepared me for college. In my junior and senior years, I took college classes that prepared me both academically and schedule-wise, since I did not take the same classes every single day.

When I was researching colleges, I looked for small classes in a liberal arts setting. I wanted to be in an academically rigorous environment, where there would be deep subject studies and no busy-work. I also wanted to swim.

I really liked the people at Grinnell when I came on my visit; the community was a big draw, and I could see myself here. The people I met on the swim team were very welcoming and accepted me as part of the group. I felt like I could fit in really well!

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First-Year Experience

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First-Year Experience

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My first year as a student at Grinnell was in 2019, before the pandemic. When I first arrived, I wanted to be a biology major and I was interested in research. I took an introduction to biology class here and I had a lot of fun. I ended up taking an introduction to anthropology class with Professor Marshack my first semester, too.

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My First-Year Tutorial class was about food and farming, and it was taught by a neuroscience professor. My professor and tutorial adviser (same person) made the class community-focused, and I enjoyed a friendly and close relationship with him because of that. We would go to a local farm together, cook together, and eat some meals together.

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Swimming

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Swimming

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During my visit to Grinnell as a prospective student, the people I met on the swim team were very welcoming and accepted me as part of the group. I continued to experience this great community after I arrived on campus.

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Now as a captain, I strive to make swimming fun for others and be a good example.

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Choosing My Major

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Choosing My Major

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Interesting Classes

Coming back from the pandemic, I wanted to enjoy my time here and study what I wanted to study. I wanted to give myself the freedom to pursue what I wanted to pursue.

Anthropology ended up being that for me. My favorite classes to this day are 1) a first-year anthropology course I took called Culture and Agriculture and 2) a seminar called War, Peace, and Human Nature. I got to make a podcast in the seminar class as an assignment.

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Community While Traveling

I took a course-embedded travel class called Collective Memory. My classmates, professor, and I went to Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and a couple of additional small cities in Northern Ireland.

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Community While Traveling

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It was super fun being abroad with the people from my class because we got super close. Having that outside-of-the-classroom experience with my professors and classmates further amplified a shared sense of community. The experience really helped turn classmates into friends. It made the class experience more enjoyable, as it was very interesting to experience a subject in such depth.

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Internship

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The summer after my second year at Grinnell, I wanted to do something community-focused so I could help people and learn in a new way. So, I found an AmeriCorps internship on an urban farm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Every summer, this nonprofit remodels peoples’ houses for free. I led a project on exterior work, which involved yardwork and painting. I matched up the volunteers to make sure that the volunteers’ experiences were taken into account with the assignments. There were volunteers who had experience with a professional construction site, but there were also volunteers who didn’t have that sort of experience at all.

From this experience, I learned the importance of not taking things for granted. We had a really good AmeriCorps cohort, and we’re all still friends.

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Off-Campus Study

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Off-Campus Study

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While I was abroad in Cambodia, I conducted research on gentrification and housing. My research built on the concepts that I learned in my summer internship with AmeriCorps, and I grew even more passionate about housing.

Although some people in the program initially struggled with the workload, I felt prepared. Grinnell’s academic rigor definitely prepared me for the kinds of work that we did in my off-campus study experience.

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Passion for Housing

When I got back from Cambodia, I dove deeply into my passion for housing.

During the spring semester of my third year, I found a position at the Grinnell Housing Authority through our career advising office. In the summer, I worked with Build a Better Grinnell, where I examined community and social issues. I continued with the Housing Authority during my senior year.

In classes, I took a policy seminar focused on housing policy, and I conducted two research projects related to housing.

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I am now the housing program assistant at the Iowa City Housing Authority! I'm really excited to be working in a field I am so passionate about.

Throughout my time at Grinnell, I had a lot of great experiences. I conducted two research projects, traveled abroad, and engaged in deep, rigorous studies. I know this will serve me well in my professional life, and I will definitely cherish the time I had at Grinnell.

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Harvey crafted an experience that put his interests first: what he enjoyed studying, service, swimming, and multiple off-campus study experiences.

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Vanessa Figueroa Weston

parkjung2 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 19:16:09 +0000

Vanessa Figueroa Weston parkjung2 Tue, 11/21/2023 - 13:16

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Why Grinnell

I'm from a bigger suburban high school with 2,800 students and more arts-oriented students. It was academically rigorous and very competitive, so I was prepared for college. However, I had a long commute to school every day, and I didn't have much of a community around me.

The community at Grinnell is what drew me here. Grinnell has a strong sense of community, and I figured that people don’t come to the middle of Iowa unless they’re passionate about what they’re studying. I definitely don’t feel the competition that I did in high school, and I feel a tight-knit community here. It's very nice.

Three things that made me choose Grinnell:

Small, tight-knit, centralized community
Individually advised curriculum
Social justice and the student-driven element of campus life

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Stepping into Support

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Stepping into Support

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Because of Covid, I didn’t get to campus until my second year of college. When I set foot on campus, I wanted to be seen and to help people. I wanted to have influence in the community and be a solid contributor to the school’s culture.

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Making Waves

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Making Waves

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Volunteering

I volunteered a lot as an underclassman. For example, I volunteered at a local senior housing center, the Mayflower, to play games with seniors. I also engage with our local schools frequently because my education courses require practicum observation hours where we assist local teachers in a K-12 classroom.

One of my favorite memories volunteering was when I assisted local elementary school students in making a documentary about a building in town. We helped students engage in research, taught them iMovie, and had fun. We showed the final documentary on the big screen at our own Harris Center!

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Volunteering

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Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC)

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Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC)

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I’m on the education Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC), which serves as the student voice for decisions made in the education concentration. Each department has its own SEPC that shares its student perspectives with the academic community. I’ve been on the education SEPC since my second year.

I love my department, and putting on events is fun. We’ve put on study breaks, and we are currently working on further developing the education concentration curriculum.

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In my second year at Grinnell and first year in SEPC, the education studies concentration was not yet a fully approved and developed concentration. Some SEPC members and I sat down with Professor Deborah Michaels to write the curriculum and its intentions. It was the culmination of the education SEPC’s work for the past 6–7 years.

And now, there are so many people who are in the concentration!

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Currently, we are busy conducting three faculty hires and reviews. I think it’s awesome that students are involved in the process of hiring their professors. Professors are there to serve the students, and they are critical to the advising experience students receive at Grinnell. I was featured in a recent S&B (school newspaper) article about faculty reviews. I encourage you to check it out.

And every year, we get dinner from a local restaurant in town and teach students about the teacher’s education program. This year, we had really high turnout for the educational concentration because it was the first year that the concentration became official. I organized the event and it had a great turnout. Everyone was so excited, which gave me a nice sense of fulfillment.

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Volleyball and Dance

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Volleyball and Dance

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I played volleyball in high school, and although I didn’t want to compete at the varsity level in college, I wanted to continue playing. I joined an intramural team, took a class, and connected with people who wanted to start a club. While I was studying abroad, my intramural volleyball team combined forces with an unofficial men’s team to make a co-ed team, and I ended up being a co-captain for a semester.

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We have open gym available to all students two days per week. We also have club team tryouts for those who are more serious. Last year, my club team competed at the University of Northern Iowa.

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I’ve stepped back as captain but am still an active member of open gym, and my housemate is a club team member!

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My favorite volleyball memory was winning the intramural league championships in 2022. We had a big turnout, and we were playing against some massive swimmers. We won!

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I was hesitant to join dance at first, since it was improv-heavy. In my second year, I would rent out the studio once a week and work on my own private projects. In my third year, I got into K-pop dancing. But I would soon do improv dance when I joined theatre professor Celeste Miller for her final performance in my third year. In her dance classes, she not only got us to be comfortable with improv, but she also cared about us enough to ask questions like “How are you doing? What is bothering you?”

Below are some images of me dancing in Celeste’s performance:

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This semester I’ve mostly been creating my own pieces individually and with friends. I’m also learning choreography from other students in dance club, and I even taught a dance once. I also still do cover dances and put on a show this fall to show off some of these creative works!

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Job-Shadowing Alumni

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Job-Shadowing Alumni

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I got to job-shadow two alumni in what we call externships. Supported by Grinnell’s career services office, externships allow a student to shadow an alumni during spring break and learn more about what day-to-day life might look like for someone working in a particular profession.

1) Brooklyn, New York

The first alum I shadowed was a K-8 admission counselor at a Spanish and French international school. When I went with the alumna to her office, I also chatted with her acquaintances for 10–15 minutes and learned more about their roles. I gained better insight into what working in a primary education school could look like.

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It was fun to live with an alumna and experience her everyday life. Even going to the grocery store and seeing how she cooked was interesting. She had a baby, too! I enjoyed learning about her experiences, in general. Because she was a Russian major at Grinnell, she also really valued the importance of learning a new language and culture.

Best of all, my ticket to New York was paid for by Grinnell’s career services department!

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While in New York, I also visited a Grinnell friend in D.C., a best friend from high school in Boston, and a Grinnellian’s brother in Providence, Rhode Island. It would have been way more expensive if I had to take a plane ride to see all of them from San Diego, but fortunately they were only train rides away. I’ll share more photos of them further down the page.

2) Gdańsk, Poland

The second alumna that I shadowed was a self-employed private language tutor in Gdańsk, Poland. She tutored people 1:1 and went to business administrative buildings to teach business English. While a lot of her tutees were fluent in English, they didn’t have business English fluency words, which I thought was interesting.

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The alumna talked to me about what her life as a self-employed woman in a different country, sharing her favorite parts of the country and culture, along with personal struggles and worries she had personally and professionally.

We both shared a love for cooking, so we spent a lot of time making food in the kitchen together and made the most delicious pumpkin tofu masala. And again, Grinnell helped pay for a good chunk of the flight to and from Poland.

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Grinnellians Around the World!

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Grinnellians Around the World!

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Throughout my four years, I’ve been to so many parts of the world with my Grinnellian friends. Here are just a few of the places I’ve been to!

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United States

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Europe

When I went to Poland for my externship, I also took some quick trips around Europe. I met my former roommates Ellen in London, Parker in Spain, and Aiden in Copenhagen.

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Off to Seoul, South Korea!

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Off to Seoul, South Korea!

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I wanted to experience a completely new culture in a bigger city and decided to study abroad in Seoul, South Korea. I spent a semester there during my third year of college, and I had such a wonderful time.

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The program brought us to the Busan International Film Festival! There, I watched a Japanese and Nicaraguan film. I speak Spanish because of my Peruvian mom, so it was really comforting to watch a movie in my heritage language, and to also listen to the filmmaker talk about her all-female crew for the film!

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Research in Education

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Research in Education

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This past year, I have been doing a Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) for education with Professor Paul Hutchison. He has been working on this same project for a while, but the overarching theme is looking at how people interact and learn. Specifically, it’s about how people in small groups influence one another, and how they impact each other’s learning.

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Over the summer, as I was looking through the data and solidifying the topic, my adviser gave me some crucial guidance.

There were many times when I felt like I was in over my head with my research. When I shared my adviser how I was feeling, he understood and helped walk me through what the next steps would be. He was extremely helpful and is just a wonderful person to be around. His family often invited me and some other student advisees to their house for dinner!

This semester, we’re refining the topic and making it presentable. Although in the process I learned independent work isn’t really right for me, I have learned a lot about research strategies. We’re hoping to present our research findings to the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.

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Hopes and Plans for the Future

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Hopes and Plans for the Future

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I’m dipping my toes in a lot of new things. I’ve been picking up some new hobbies in fiber arts and music — I’ve really enjoyed my harp lessons this semester!

After graduating, I’m interested in pursuing a career in education, either in a formal classroom setting or an education administrative program. I just want to be a part of a community that helps students learn and grow.

I love to travel and expand my understanding of the world by engaging in different cultures. I am currently getting my Teaching English as a Foreign Language License 9 (TEFL), which was partially subsidized by our career advising office. I am open to going anyone, but being Peruvian-American, I was thinking about spending more time in Peru, or maybe returning to Korea, where I studied abroad.

I enjoyed my college experience quite a bit. I was worried that with Covid there would be a large absence of community, but Grinnellians surprised me with how much and how deeply they wanted to connect with me. My second year, I learned how to engage even more deeply with other students. My third year, I connected a lot more with professors, faculty, and staff. My senior year, I feel like I’m a true member of the College and town community, frequently visiting small businesses, including thrift stores and coffee shops, and being so involved in the local schools.

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Vanessa was excited to be a part of a community where she could make impact. Finding a volleyball intramural club, shadowing two alumni, research, and her educational policy committee experiences proved that she can and would.

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Mia Kauffman

parkjung2 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:58:44 +0000

Mia Kauffman parkjung2 Tue, 11/21/2023 - 10:58

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Mia’s

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Why Grinnell?

I went to a small, urban, all-girls Catholic high school. For college, I was looking for a liberal arts school with a very welcoming and inclusive environment and supportive community, where I could feel heard and supported by faculty and advisors.

During my visit to Grinnell, I felt that this was the place that fit the bill for me. I felt seen and not like a number in class visits, and Grinnell frequently reaching out to me during the application process convinced me. With fun letters and personalized emails, I felt that the constant communication helped me feel connected to the campus.

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Why Grinnell?

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First Year, A Supportive Community

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First Year, A Supportive Community

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Transitioning to college wasn’t easy, but I really enjoyed it. I don’t think I had any expectations coming in; I just wanted to be included and seen.

I was able to have my first-year tutorial class in person before the pandemic hit fully and we were forced to go home. While I was adjusting to college, my adviser would reach out to me to check in on my mental health. Everyone else wanted to get to know me as a person, so I always felt supported.

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And then on the track team, everyone was super nice and impressive. My coaches knew I was struggling with the transition to college, and they were great at checking in with me. During practices, they would pull me aside and ask how I was doing. I always felt confident that I had someone if I needed help.

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A huge thing I learned during my time in college is the importance of asking for help. Thanks to the supportive community at Grinnell, I’m not afraid to do that anymore. I’m stronger because I can gain the wisdom and knowledge of other people without taking it personally.

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Thanks to the supportive community at Grinnell, I’m not afraid to ask for help anymore.

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Pandemic

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Pandemic

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Remote learning was hard and didn’t work well for me when I did it my first year, so I decided to take a year off.

Something I never expected was that even during the spring semester during my leave my advisers would still ping me and ask, “Hey, how are you doing? Let’s set up a time to meet.”

I still felt wanted and special during my leave.

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Finding My Passions

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Finding My Passions

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A Community of Supportive Women

I came in thinking I wanted to take the pre-med path. But after getting into the Spanish major and taking a gender, women’s, and sexuality studies (GWSS) course, I now want to use my chemistry studies to become a chemistry professor and be a mentor for other minority women in the field.

I started to have this realization when my first-year adviser suggested that I take a GWSS course. I really loved the class, which introduced me to women’s rights and feminism. That was the start of my journey.

The following semester, I decided to combine my interest in GWSS with a Spanish class on women in gender and literature. We studied some of the first educated women in the world, who were nuns in the Catholic Church.

The experiences I read from the nuns inspired me; I connected it to chemistry and the great female mentorship I have from my advisers in the higher ed sphere.

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A Community of Supportive Women

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No Green Thumb?

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No Green Thumb?

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I found the Delaware State Parks environmental steward internship through my career adviser. I was looking for something environmental, but this experience showed me that I don’t actually like plants!

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A Knack for Research

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A Knack for Research

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I pursued chemistry research here at Grinnell through my Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) with Professor MacInnes. Under her guidance, I used electrochemistry to explore extraction materials for heavy metal pollution. I got to use environmental applications in chemistry laboratory research, which I loved.

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At the beginning, I wanted a lot of guidance from my adviser. She put me to work within the project and helped me learn the research techniques. After two weeks, I was pretty independent and could make decisions while also gaining a lot of technical research skills (which grad schools will love!).

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The picture above is unrelated to the MAP, but the MAP gave me a lot of confidence working independently in a lab, and it convinced me that I want to do research for a career. My MAP adviser is writing recommendation letters for my Ph.D. applications now!

This past spring break, I went to the ACS (American Chemical Society) Conference to present my research. It was an awesome experience that was fully funded by Grinnell. I presented my research and listened to a bunch of other people’s research. I learned how to network and discovered what it’s like to attend a conference.

If you’re looking for grad school as a next step after college, Grinnell is a strong option for getting you there. You’ll work very closely with your professors here, which will really strengthen your experiences and your grad school applications.

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A Mentoring Community (in the SEPC)

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A Mentoring Community

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I’m on the SEPC (Student Educational Policy Committee) for chemistry, and that has been really cool. We put on fun events, such as a chem draw, which is a computer program for organic chemistry.

The pictures below are from my organic chemistry class.

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I think my most impactful activity is my job as a science community leader at the Science Learning Center. I’ve been doing that for two years now. My role allows me to connect with students and help guide them. I work in the classroom and in the lab, and I enjoy getting to help foster a positive learning environment. I love being able to connect with other students outside of the classroom (such as at the dining hall, social events, etc.).

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A Love of Kids, Off Campus

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A Love of Kids, Off Campus

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At some point in college, I knew that I wanted to gain a new perspective and live abroad. I chose Ecuador because I wanted to improve Spanish fluency and take Spanish classes and explore that culture.

Going into my off-campus study, I volunteered and tutored math and history to kids in Spanish. From that experience, I discovered how much I love kids and that one's learning environment is really important for a person's success. It convinced me that I want to work in education.

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Reflections on Path to Ph.D.

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Reflections on Path to PhD

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Looking back at my four years at Grinnell, I feel that I have definitely grown from all my classes and experiences in ways I didn’t expect.

I think I have changed in good ways: I have a very open perspective about things and am confident in myself. Looking back, I will remember the Grinnell community and its interdisciplinary academic approach.

I really want to be a professor and mentor for students. My organic chemistry professor, Professor Mobley, approaches his teaching very collaboratively and is interactive with students. I’m inspired by his teaching and want to be that kind of teacher for others.

And most importantly, I will always remember the growth that my advisers encouraged in me. I want to someday teach at a liberal arts institution, maybe even in a small town like Grinnell, and hopefully encourage the same growth in others. I hadn't experienced this kind of close community before.

I feel excited for how Grinnell has prepared me for my future!

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Post-Grad

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