I started off a nursing major. After my first semester, I was feeling overwhelmed, so I reached out to my advisor, and we just started talking about what I was interested in. She suggested for the next semester, I take a broad range of classes that still go towards my BA. I ended up taking micro-economics, creative writing, sociology and philosophy. I really enjoyed the microeconomics professor and she pointed out how I just breezed through the class. I made an appointment with her and that’s how I landed on economics. I would have never seen myself getting into econ or international studies. I would have laughed. In my house, political topics and issues were never a big thing.
While I got into nursing to help others, I realized you don’t need to be in the medical field to do that. For example, I can help others with econ by looking further into economic disparities and pinpointing why some people are better off than others. That it’s because it’s been structured that way.
One place I love is the MIPS office (Multicultural and International Programs and Services). I was invited to just hang out there. Seeing international students, being part of their community, learning their favorite foods, favorite music, their language, has been great. It's a place that really welcomed me in terms of being a Latina. You don't have to be an international student, either. We have a lot of students who come in and connect culturally with others. It’s one of the cool things that made me feel, ok, I belong here.
I would tell an incoming student that it's okay not to know exactly what you want to do. In my experience, St. Kate’s has really helped me through that process and everything has fallen into place.
The amount of opportunities St. Kate’s makes available to students still surprises me. We get to know the professors really well. They reach out all the time. I recently got an email from a professor after
two years who said she was thinking I would be a good TA for her upcoming class. To learn and do research alongside professors is an opportunity I’ve definitely taken advantage of.
When I tell people I go to St. Kate’s they say, ‘the all-women’s school?’ Exactly. I honestly cannot tell you the amount of comfortableness I feel. I literally feel everybody there is a sister to me. I don’t have to present myself in a certain way, I can just literally be myself. Everybody is doing what they like to do. There’s no judgment of you taking whatever journey it is you find interesting, that you like. It’s really a space where you don’t get judged for things like majoring in econ or international studies. So I feel empowered to answer, ‘Yeah, I go to the all-women’s school!’