Settling In, Moving Forward

The snow is falling, the on-campus Starbucks is filling, and our underground tunnels are warm and full of friendly faces. It must be early spring semester at Rochester.

While running warp, full-thruster speed into my second semester here at the University of Rochester, I’m never too busy to stop in, take a quick break, and say hello. Things are going excellent. I’m settling in. The campus has become familiar and the tunnels keep me out of the wind and dry.

As a quick update, my self-designed major is turning out better than I expected. This semester alone, I’ve studied sociology, psychology, and philosophy (not to mention my creative writing courses, or the hands-on lab where my fellow students and I start faux-businesses). As an entrepreneurship student, I couldn’t have asked for a more versatile experience—challenging me in the best ways.

I’ve also begun to realize the breadth of reach the University of Rochester has in its community. Recently, I was hired (through the UR Job Link!) as a high-school mentor for a new program called UR BOLD. We encourage young men to graduate high school, enroll in college, and empower themselves with self-sustaining leadership.

It’s a cherished opportunity to potentially make a positive impact in someone else’s life (or they in mine!), and I wouldn’t have had it if not for UR. It’s one of those unforeseen benefits of stepping outside my comfort zone and moving across the country to attend. You never know what extracurricular opportunity is right around the corner, and that’s what makes UR so exciting.

The current moves forward at UR. You sense the spirit of it when you come, everyone moving forward. I guess, maybe, that’s what they mean by “Meliora.”

Come down, jump in, and move forward.

Photo by Katie Lam ’13, Take 5