What activities are you engaged in outside the classroom?

During my first semester, I attended a couple of the introduction meetings of the Black Caucus, HPA Mentoring Group and the African Student Association. I choose those clubs as they were the closest things that felt like home to me and or peaked my interest. As I did not really know anyone coming into Penn State, I choose to attended a couple meetings as I was already familiar with these clubs back in high school and wanted to join some type of community that reflected on me as an individual.

What did you hope to gain/have already learned from the experience? 

I hoped to find my place at Penn State; somewhere were I felt I belonged. Not that I did not belong at Penn State, but I wanted my own community where I felt as if I could be me without any judgement. I learned ways to study, internships which were available, how to improve my networking skills, and many other skills that will benefit me inside and outside of university.

How did each experience make you a better student? 

I believe each experience made me a better student and individual. I learned how to manage my time better, improved my communication skills, found my sense of family/home, and learned where and how to network with many different people. 

Did your engagement help you explore majors? 

I do believe my engagement helped me when I explored different majors as I knew what sort of things I was looking for in a major. I knew what my interested where and having those experiences helped me take some majors out the maybe pile and into  the yes pile.