Despite attending an elite high school, Lucy did not let the peer pressure get to her and make her entire life about her grades. She talks about the benefits and disadvantages that came with this mindset.
Transcription
Lucy
I went to a very high pressure high school. So people would get upset if they got like, a B plus. Whereas I would be getting a seat I’d be like, Okay, what does this mean? Like whatever?
Kamila
Hey, college kids. Welcome back to my podcast. Who cares about college? In today’s episode, I’ll be interviewing Lucy cook. So Lucy, could you please introduce yourself?
Lucy
Yeah. Hi, everybody. My name is Lucy. I’m originally from Moscow, Russia. But I’ve grown up in Virginia and Massachusetts. I’ve spent half my life in both places. I’m currently living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, though. So if any of you are in Philly, shout out Philly. I’m a Communication Studies major with a minor in education. And I’m currently headed down a track for education, policy and reform. And I’m a junior right now. And I’m currently attending Temple University.
Kamila
Okay, so we’ll get into those future aspirations and your major a little bit later. But let’s start at the very beginning. And you kind of have an interesting story. So when did you actually first describe the situation of coming to America? And did that kind of impact? Maybe the I don’t know, maybe the education process in your family or the different beliefs that your family had with education? So can you talk to us about that?
Lucy
Yeah, that’s a really, really great question. So I was once again, I mentioned this before I was born in Moscow, Russia. And both of my parents are immigrants. My mom was born and raised in Russia, and my dad is from Uzbekistan. So they both kind of have really different education experiences, both from each other, but also from the United States education system. And from what I remember growing up is, I didn’t actually receive a lot of help from them. I know that some American families like some of their parents are super super involved in their lives. With me, my parents, like gave me free rein over my education. And over my life, which has its detriments and benefits. We can talk about both of those later. But because I had so much control over my education, I felt like I like self expression is a huge thing in my life. I’m always like myself. That’s something that I will always believe in. And then that’s basically it.
Kamila
Yeah. Okay. So can you talk to us a little bit about you said there were benefits and detriments to your parents being less involved in your education. So can you tell us a little bit from you know, both sides, how that impacted you?
Lucy
Yeah, so one of the benefits for sure, is, I could choose what I wanted. So school was never like, super, super pressured on me. I was never pressured to take honors classes and get good grades and things like that. And it wasn’t something that controlled me in some ways that I know. Like, my other friends, their parents were very involved in their grades very involved in like their essays and assignments. One of my friends had a calendar of all her assignments that her whole family knew about. That’s not how I functioned. I was in charge of everything. Which is cool, because I learned how to be self sufficient from an early age, very beneficial for college, right? Because now I’m more self sufficient. In college. I learned that super early. On the other hand, because my parents were involved, the detriment to that is a lot of the time. Sometimes I wouldn’t turn in assignments, right? Sometimes I would just skip on homework, skip on even big projects, I had moments where I would just be like, Oh, I didn’t turn on this big project, and then just make up excuses for it. And that was something that like, I don’t do now, obviously, but I did it in high school, because I didn’t see any repercussions for my teachers were always understanding they’re always like, okay, just turn it in later. But I was never felt those repercussions for my family. And I never felt that, like, they never cracked down on that. Those kinds of rules. So I, it took a while for me to learn self discipline.
Kamila
Okay, and so because your parents because you didn’t have any pressure from your family, or I guess expectations, did your grades suffer at all? Or did you still do you still in your mind maintain like, oh, I need to get A’s to go to like, a relatively good university. So how did how did your grades like suffer or benefit from that?
Lucy
I love that question. Um, in high school, I could not visualize what grades were and in the weirdest way if that makes any sense. I did not understand what it meant. And I, I mean, I understood but I didn’t internalize it. Difference between an A and a C or a D, like my high school GPA was just kind of there and it was its own thing and it was floating by itself. And so yes, my grades Absolutely plummeted when I didn’t turn in assignments, but at the same time, for example, I would get back an exam. And it was like a C, and I wouldn’t get upset about it. Like, I didn’t feel the same kinds of emotions that some of my friends had, because I went to a very high pressure high school. So people would get upset if they got like, a B plus, whereas I would be getting a seed, I’d be like, Okay, what does this mean? Like, whatever. Now in high school, I mean, now in college, now that I’m in university, I understand that my GPA ultimately affects the kinds of jobs that I’m going to get the kinds of opportunities I’m going to get. Now I have a better understanding of what grades actually entail. Whereas before, I think I couldn’t picture College as the reason why I should get good grades. But now, I need good grades so I can get a better job.
Kamila
Does that make sense? Yeah, that makes sense. So I know a lot of students don’t really think about college until junior year where they have to take the LSAT or AC T, and they have to think about the colleges they want to go to. So did your mindset change in junior year or where you’re like, was your thoughts on like, you know, grades and GPA, the same and consistent throughout high school,
Lucy
it was all the same. So when I started the college process, and when I started applying for colleges and things like that, I was really only doing it because my school was telling me to do it. Because, for example, my junior year of high school, we had a whole unit dedicated to writing our college essay, which every single student had to write a college essay, right. And it was kind of neglecting the fact that maybe some students didn’t want to go to college. But because we spent like, a couple of months writing a college essay, okay, now I have a college essay, what am I supposed to do with it? Might as well use it to apply for school, it was kinda like that kind of mindset. And our counselors were always talking to us about colleges. And they were like people that like reps that came to our school. We always had a lump, come back and talk about it. So I was just going with the flow, it wasn’t something that I was striving towards, it wasn’t something that I was pushing myself for, as much as I am now. I was just doing it because everyone else was doing it.
Kamila
So in the end of high school, when your GPA from freshman, sophomore, junior, your senior your accumulated, what did what was the product of what was your GPA in the
Lucy
end? My GPA, I think I started at like a three, eight. And then as I went on to high school, I’m pretty sure I graduated with a three two, I think that was my closing GPA.
Kamila
And for the schools that you were aiming towards, was that about average above average, or below average? Where did you fall on that scale?
Lucy
That was definitely below average. And I’m surprised that I got into most of the schools that I got into with my GPA because the average for my schools was like a three, four to three, eight, and I had a three, two. So I was like, why? How did this happen?
Kamila
Okay, interesting. We’ll get into a little bit later. But let’s move on to another part of your application, which is more, you know, grades centered. So did you take the PSAT or the A CT?
Lucy
I took PSATs. Okay, and then did
Kamila
you do any prep for those essays? Or was that another just do i because my school requires it to.
Lucy
So I actually did prep for the essay to use. And that was, again, not because I wanted to, but because everyone else was getting tutors. So I was like, okay, maybe I should kind of think about it, maybe get a tutor and I did get a tutor. It was He was recommended to us from like a family friend or something. And that was helpful. I learned a lot from that tutor for my LSAT. Yes,
Kamila
I see. And how long did you have that tutor before you took the official LSAT?
Lucy
I think I went to maybe like five sessions. It wasn’t a lot, but for a little bit.
Kamila
See? And then in the end, what was the LSAT score that you sent to these schools? I think I had a 1350 or 250 on that’s pretty good. Yeah. So again, it was that like, average, above average or below average for the schools.
Lucy
So for some of my school, I know. So again, I go to Temple University and Philly temple didn’t even require LSAT scores. They don’t need standardized testing. I think a couple of other schools also didn’t need standardized testings, and then the ones that did, which were like more reaches, that was below average for those schools.
Kamila
Yeah, because you do need insanely high LSAT scores for those schools. Yeah. Okay, let’s move on to the actual classes you took. So did you ever start thinking about like putting in honors or AP or when did you like, did you ever think of taking those classes?
Lucy
I did. So I took AP Bio my senior year. And the reason I took AP Bio is because I actually thought I was going into science. I thought it was going to be in STEM field. Because for a little bit of background information, both my father and my brother, they both went to college and they both have graduated. They’re both in the STEM field. So I was like, You know what, let me carry this family legacy that we kind of started, I’m also going to go into the STEM field, pretending that I know anything about science. So I was like, I’m just gonna put my whole life out there, me with my three, two GPA, I’m gonna put my whole life out there and try to take AP Bio, and then see where that takes me. Where did it take me? It took me to C’s and DS as my core grades, except for the labs that we did, because those were more hands on. And those were things that actually interested me. Because they were like, more project based. But things like exams, lab reports, that’s that was the stuff that I was like, Okay, I’m just gonna pretend to do them, but not actually do them.
Kamila
See, okay, so did you just only take AP Bio as the AP through high school? Okay. Yeah. And did that do anything much for your out of 5.0 GPA? Because you did take that AP class.
Lucy
I don’t think my school tract or unweighted GPA, or they might have tracked it, but I know that it was never something that I talked about with my counselor. So I don’t know what my unweighted GPA was.
Kamila
Interesting, interesting. Okay, so now we’re past the statistics, and the grades and stuff. Let’s move on to the extracurricular. So, extracurriculars. What did you do? What did you put on your application?
Lucy
So with extracurriculars? This is a good question with extracurriculars. One of the reasons another reason why my grades suffered so much was because I was so heavily involved in extracurriculars, because I felt like this is these are things that go beyond math, and go beyond science and go beyond like English, and just structure and format. Now, my extracurriculars are places where I can actually explore who I am as a person, what my talents are, how far can I push myself in creative ways, and I’m a creative person. So that’s why I loved extracurriculars. And I did theater for all of high school. So freshman through senior year, I was on the stage, I was dancing all the time I was with my buds. And that was super helpful for my social life, my mental health, things like that. And then I was the editor in chief of our yearbook, I did yearbook for four years. And then I let our yearbook club for junior and senior year, where we got to create a three and our school is very, very big. So we had a huge emphasis on our yearbook. And we created a 300 page book every single year, with a whole theme and different layouts. And it was like a magazine that we created, because I just put my heart and soul into the creative spirit of these products. And, again, like I didn’t focus on academics, but I know that I will forever look back at those books, and be so unbelievably proud of my creations and the people that I worked with, and the teamwork that we had. And for me to get that kind of opportunity as a high schooler. That’s something I’ll always be grateful for my school. And, okay, keep going. I also I tried the bait, too. But that was, that was not so good. I was not the best to debate.
Kamila
Okay, so let’s go back to the theater and editor in chief of the school yearbook. So in every extracurricular, whatever you do, you learn something in basically everything you do in life, you learn something. So since you were really committed to those, and you did eventually climb up and do significant things for both of those, I guess you could say clubs or activities. What did you learn from both theatre and being the editor in chief of your school yearbook?
Lucy
That is an amazing question. And I appreciate you asking that. For both of them. I learned a lot. I learned teamwork, first and foremost, because you definitely need to, specifically with theatre, you’re spending so much time around people that you need to know how to handle yourself as a person professionally, and also how to be emotionally present because you’re going to be on stage right? And also how to be respectful and have good hygiene. That was a big thing I learned in school, good hygiene. And I also learned that I actually hate theater. That was also important,
Kamila
because why did you do for four years?
Lucy
Not that I hate it. I did it because I was with my friends a lot of the time and I also loved dance. So I was a dancer on stage. I wasn’t like one of the big actors. But by doing theater in high school, I learned that this is not something that I want to do for the rest of my life. Right. And I think that that’s a huge thing with life experiences is even if you have bad life experiences, it’s like probably Process of elimination, right? So when you try a lot of things, and you have a whole variety of things in your repertoire, you can be like, Okay, I don’t like this, I don’t like this. I don’t like this and just slowly, right, push it out of the way until you find something that you actually like. So theater, I was like, I’m never doing theater, dance, I was like, Okay, I’m not gonna do dance for the rest of my life singing, I was like, I’m not gonna do that. With yearbook, same exact thing. I was like, I learned how to work with people. I learned a lot of coding. I learned photography, I made amazing connections with the people in my school, because I was supposed so I had to juggle sports, and theater and like debate and all these clubs, right? You have to include them in the yearbook. So you have to find people and seek them out and talk to them, get their interviews, things like that. And I learned that I don’t want to do journalism, right. I love the media world. And I love the communication world in the connects world. But I don’t want to create products like that I want to do something else. So then where can I find my third? Like, where can I quench my thirst for projects, while at the same time? Not specifically making your books or doing things in that kind of realm?
Kamila
I see. And so when you realize that both theater and yearbook are not for you, and obviously there are many, many professions out there, but did you have a relative idea of what you wanted to pursue in your life? No,
Lucy
I had no idea. So are you asking about high school?
Kamila
You’re in like high school. Did you know which major you wanted to go into? Besides the like the science AP science thing?
Lucy
I really, I will tell you right now, I had no idea I wanted to. So when I applied to schools, I applied as a bio major, because I was like, and here I am with like my extracurriculars, theater yearbook, debate, I put debate on my stuff, but I didn’t actually like, wasn’t fully immersed in the world. Singing I had took singing classes, I put that on my college applications. Here I am applying as a bio major. So in my documentaries person, yeah. So it wasn’t really making my case. But I did not know who I wanted to be in high school. That’s
Kamila
very interesting. Interesting. So let’s move on to one thing before we talk about, you know, the actual college process applying and stuff. So last thing is recommendation letters. Who did you get those from?
Lucy
Yep, so I got my two of my recommendation letters, I got one from my English teacher, who was the same person that worked with us in our college essays. So because we did so much like personal work in that class, I felt that he knew me most as a student, so he could write me the strongest letter of recommendation. And then I got one from my chemistry teacher. I also did really, really bad in chemistry, so but I was really, really close with my teacher, nonetheless, because I love teachers. That’s why I’m going into the world of education, I think, because I’ve always had a really easy time forming relationships with all of my teachers. So with my chemistry teacher, even though it was getting bad grades, I was getting them because I knew I was doing a bad job, not because my teacher was doing a bad job. So I still loved her. She was still one of my favorite teachers. And she still wrote me an amazing letter of recommendation, because she knew me as a person, before she knew me as a student.
Kamila
That’s interesting. So how did you exactly form those relationships? Because some students you know, they’re like nitpick which, which teacher? Should I form a relationship with? To make my college application look better? So how did you? How did you form those relationships? Because I personally find the them hard to do. I don’t really feel comfortable with the idea of like forming a relationship with a teacher. So how did that happen? Was it natural?
Lucy
My biggest recommendation, and if you go to college, and you have professors, same goes for professors, you just talk to them. Look beyond the fact that they’re a teacher, look beyond the fact that they’re giving you grades and exams, and essays and things like that, and see them as a person. And then understand that they also have a life, they also have family, they also probably have a favorite flavor of pie or something or, like they they are also human beings. I think that’s something we always forget to look at. Because we if we get a bad grade, we’re like, oh, it was the teachers fault. Like there’s such, there’ll be an A hole about it. So I’m just going to brush them aside. No, these are people. So talk to them as you would with any other people. And with me, I take the opportunities for like office hours to maybe just pop it in and say hey, or that those five minutes before class starts and you’re just in the classroom. Just be like, Hey, what’s up? How are you doing? Like, what’s going on in your life or just be like, This is what’s going on in my life. Like I had a really good lunch today. Just like casual conversations.
Kamila
So did you think that the recommendation letters were one of the strongest pieces of your application?
Lucy
Maybe I never read them. But maybe that’s how I got into college. Because it wasn’t my credentials. Maybe.
Kamila
Speaking of college, let’s move on to like actually applying for college. Interestingly, you looked for you applied as a biology major. So were you originally looking at schools with good biology programs?
Lucy
No, I was not. And this is also something that I think about a lot too. I think if you’re going into the STEM field, it’s beneficial to only look at, but that’s if you know, if you’re, like super adamant, and you’re like, Yes, I know that I want to do science for the rest of my life, then you should look at science schools, but I was so iffy. With what I wanted to be I was like, Okay, I kind of want to do bio. So that’s why I was more drawn to schools that offered everything. Temple is a school that has like, amazing programs in so many different fields. And that’s why I was like, okay, Temple is good, because ultimately, I know, I’m going to be switching my major. But now I have all these opportunities that I can look at when I want to switch my major. I’m not tied down to one field.
Kamila
I see. And so besides temple, what other universities did you apply to you?
Lucy
Yes, that’s a good question. I have a whole list. So I applied to Boston University. I applied to Syracuse, University of Pittsburgh, Temple, University of Massachusetts, and University of New Hampshire, so mostly state schools.
Kamila
And you said, you mentioned some reach school. So sorry, in your list was like Boston University or reach school?
Lucy
Yes, it was a reach. I can tell you. So being you, Boston University, and Skidmore, where the
Kamila
Skidmore. Okay. Yes, Kim, we’re skimmers pretty hard to get into. Okay, so you do these go? Do all these colleges go by the Common Application? Yes, they Okay. And what was your common app essay about
Lucy
my essay, oh, my gosh, I love my essay. So my essay, I did like a cool little thing with it. And again, we spent so much time writing it. So I felt like I could like really push my boundaries with what I did. So I wrote about your book, because that was a huge part of my life during that time. And I wrote about my asthma. And what I did, like, wrote about my struggles with asthma, and then pulled imagery of like breathing, and like choking on air and pulled that kind of imagery and tied it into my experience of your book. And it was just good, having like those two little parts of my life, merge together into one narrative.
Kamila
So it’s interesting. So like you, you said, you create yearbook themes. So did you kind of create a theme behind your asthma disguised as a yearbook theme?
Lucy
I mean, I guess kind of maybe my yearbook, the themes I have for yearbook had nothing to do with my asthma. My college essay did.
Kamila
Okay. Ah, so I’m kind of confused. How did you tie the two together? Then?
Lucy
I just did. I really just like, oh, go ahead. Sorry.
Kamila
No, you go ahead. I’m just gonna say what’s the call the admissions directors probably didn’t expect, but that’s very creative.
Lucy
Well, yeah, one of the one of the things I will because they emphasize, at least my teachers emphasized is you should write about a struggle and how you overcame a struggle, right? Or how you maybe had a big leadership position. And so one of my struggles is my asthma. And one of my struggles was yearbook. And then also, I had a lot of obstacles that I faced in yearbook. So basically just wrote about your book, and then pulled an imagery of asthma being like, okay, during this time, I was drowning in work, and it’s just like little details that just kind of tied them all together.
Kamila
Oh, interesting. Yeah. That’s probably an essay. Somebody wouldn’t remember. Yeah. Okay, so now, let’s go on to like, acceptance, acceptances and stuff. Which schools did you get accepted to rejected from waitlisted? From?
Lucy
Yeah, we checked my list. So I got accepted into most of the schools, which was, again, really surprising. I don’t know how that happened. I got rejected from BU and Skidmore. Obviously, those were both of my reaches. I got deferred from UMass. And then I never wanted to hear from because I knew I didn’t even want to go to UMass. I applied there because my brother went there. But I got deferred, and then I never checked up on it. Like whether or not I got in, and then I got into the rest of the schools. So I got into temple you put Syracuse and University of New Hampshire
Kamila
How did you decide to go to temple in the end?
Lucy
I love this question so much to your laser questions always. I decided to go to temple because and I hadn’t even toured the school yet. I toured the school after I got accepted. And I decided to go there because I looked at, okay, I decided after I toured. But I remember looking, because once you get into a school, you can actually join Facebook groups for a lot of the schools. And that’s how you can start to form connections before you go to the schools. So I joined like the UNH Facebook group, the Syracuse Facebook group, you put and temple just to see the kind of people that were attending these schools. And I found such a variety of people, but at the same time, like similarities between the groups of peoples in each school, and temple just had the funniest people writing about themselves. Like, people were putting memes and like just saying, Hey, I love concerts. And this is what I want to do with my life, there was a lot of people that were really into activism. A lot of people that loved thrifting, that was just like a fun thing. Because it’s so temple. The biggest difference about temple between all those other schools is that temples, a city school. So there’s a lot more opportunities. And then there was a lot of other city city kids that knew the school as well, and knew the city. And just the environment created in that Facebook group made me want to be there. People were very open about who they were as people. They were very open about, again, self expression, that’s something that I always love. And seeing that through Facebook, seeing people’s personalities, like seeing Facebook saturated in personalities. Ultimately, I was like, Yeah, this is the school that I’m gonna go to, because I’m going to meet the best people here.
Kamila
That’s good. And I hope temple lived up to your expectations.
Lucy
It did. It really did.
Kamila
That’s great. And before we get into your actual college experience, I want to ask a couple more questions. So the schools you applied to they were all on the East Coast, right? Yes, everything on the east coast. So did you ever think of like, because you yourself lived, lived on the East Coast and still do? Did you ever think of like branching out to the West Coast or Midwest? That’s just like, kind of a question I have for a lot of people like Do you ever think of going this way? In this way? I know there are a lot of great schools on the East Coast. Most of the schools are on the east coast. But do you ever like think of branching out?
Lucy
That’s a That’s a great question two, I kind of thought about it. But that kind of decision kind of came down to my parents a little bit, because and this was a huge, a huge conflict that I had with my parents with temple as well, because they didn’t want me moving super far away. And my family lives, my family lives in Massachusetts, and even a six hour drive down. The east coast was too far for them. And so I knew that I didn’t want to look at schools on the West Coast, because I was like, this is going to be too much. And it’s also a money thing, too. Yeah. Plane tickets are so expensive. And I’m really, really close with my family. I have I have a baby sister too. So I have a nine year old sister and my older brother is amazing. And I’m really, and we’re also there’s only five of us in the States. So for me to separate from these four most important people in my life and my only family in this country. I think that would have been a huge strain on our familial bonds. So I just didn’t even look. East Coast was like easy.
Kamila
And the East Coast has plenty of schools probably a match for like most people. Yeah. Okay, so let’s get into actual college experience. So you said you are a junior this year. Okay. So coming in to Temple University. You weren’t familiar with like, I mean, nobody is familiar with college. It’s a completely new chapter of life. So coming in, what how did you deal with it? What happened? Were you stressed out? Were you kinda like scared and because you were away from your family? So how did you sort out your emotions? What was going on?
Lucy
I cried a lot. Like, that’s the biggest thing. I was like, I cried a lot. And I had an amazing roommate, that if she knew I was crying, she would just give me space. So that was super helpful. Crying is also awesome because it’s such a release of emotions. It’s just great. I was also going through a huge breakup. I had dated someone for two years like prior and it was my first and only relationship and it was a really, really healthy relationship. So we didn’t break up because something went wrong, we broke up because I was going to school. And there’s not much closure that you can get from that kind of breakup. Other than, Oh, I have school, like, that’s the reason. So a lot of crying a lot of self reflection. Also, Temple is a bit of a tough school, because everybody here is like a, the majority of people here are from Pennsylvania. So the majority of people here have other friends that they went to high school with. And during that first year, they don’t usually break apart from their circles, because it’s more comfortable to just hang out with the people that you’ve known since high school. So and I’m the only person from my high school that went to temple. So that was really tough, because I didn’t have a close connection at my school. I really just had my roommate, and I really, really had to push myself to branch out and to find the people that would be my support system here. Especially because I was so far from family I was like, all by myself, which is why the crying came in.
Kamila
So did you come to the realization that you would need to branch out? Or was that something that came a semester later, just your entire freshman year pass? And then you realize that so when did you come to that.
Lucy
So as someone that was really, really involved in high school as well, I knew that I was going to get involved in college as soon as I got there. And I knew that that was the best way to make friends. So I just did, I joined the yearbook club in college as well, because that was something that I knew. And even though I didn’t find like my closest circles from there, it was good just to do something at first. And then as time went on, I started like, joining other clubs going to events because a lot of schools hold hold events all the time. And then I started making connections accidentally. And then I started meeting my best friends,
Kamila
too. And did your dorm mate that first year ended up becoming a friend that you still have now.
Lucy
So I still her name is Rachel. She’s literally the most amazing person that I’ve ever lived with. She I really lucked out with roommates, like sometimes you hear remote roommate horror stories, and then every
Kamila
single interview or ever may horror story. Yeah.
Lucy
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry for all those people. And I like I lucked out living with Rachel because she was very understanding of my situation. And she gave me the space that I needed. And even though like, we don’t talk every single day, if I see her in the street, I will scream her name and give her the biggest hug. And she knows that and she will have to hug me back. She knows that. No, she’s amazing. Like she’s actually the best person at Temple. No, like,
Kamila
that’s, that’s great that you lucked out with that first year dorm mate. So and you knew immediately that you wanted to get involved. So you went into yearbook, what else did you do in college to get involved?
Lucy
So my first year I took it slow, because I was like, I need to figure out my education. First, I’m going to pace myself. So I worked in a dog shelter, and I worked for Tumblr yearbook, those were the only two things that I kept to. So sophomore year. So last year, I started branching out a little bit more, I joined the orientation team, that was a huge thing, because it’s a very competitive organization to join. There’s a lot of like interview processes that go
Kamila
into what is orientation team.
Lucy
So on at our school, it’s called the Altium leaders. And it’s basically the group of students that they’re like the very first people that you meet, when you go through the college orientation process. So we’re the ones that are like leading and navigating you through college tours, and showing you like all the big presentations that the school does, because there’s like certain things that you need to learn before coming to the school, like all the resources we have, how to stay safe with food, obviously. And so as orientation leaders like as students, we’re kind of like the peer leaders of the group. And most of the time, like, again, these are the first people, the first students that you really meet at Temple. And then from there, you get to meet other students because there’s like orientation groups that happen. Interesting and
Kamila
what motivated you or told you like, oh, let’s let’s try that was just like, oh, let me try it and see what happened.
Lucy
So I loved my orientation group. That’s how I made my first group of friends at Temple was when I went through orientation and the job so you get paid for it too. So the job seems amazing because you and it is amazing. So this year, obviously, due to COVID. We didn’t get to do the exact same experience that it would have been if it was in person, but in person. You get to spend an entire summer in the city. Living in one of the residence halls, you work every single day with different orientation groups. And you basically just live with other students for a whole summer and you just get paid and you work. And like some people make their closest friends during that time. It’s kind of like summer camp, but it’s a little different because you’re working with college students.
Kamila
That’s interesting. So is that is that like a work study program that temple offers?
Lucy
No, that’s just a regular I, I don’t think you can get work study. I had work study this summer working for the orientation office. So I had two jobs this summer, I worked orientation online. And then I also worked for the office answering phones. And I’d work study for that. But I think when it’s in person, it’s just a stipend.
Kamila
And tell us a little bit more about that. How you got involved? Because you You mean, I’ve, you’re kind of like the first person who’s actually figured out to you know, let’s branch out and find friends that way. So what else did you get involved in? And how did you find your interests, and then eventually come upon your major because you were coming in as a biology major. So how did you how did you change your major?
Lucy
So I found communication studies because I knew that I wanted to be in the realm of communication. And I knew that I didn’t want to do journalism. I didn’t want to do journalism, because I didn’t like doing yearbook. Even though I still joined it. I was like, Okay, this is not something that I want to do for the rest of my life. So I tried communication studies, I liked it. I also started taking Spanish my sophomore year, and for honors Spanish, so I’m part of the Honors College, for honors Spanish, there’s a requirement to work in the Latin X community for 10 hours of community service. That’s something that temple does like they if you’re in the Honors Program, like sometimes it’s a requirement to do community service. And so the job that I found for to fulfill my community service requirements was working for the Garcias Foundation, where you work with Spanish speaking citizens. Their first language is Spanish, and you basically work with them to teach them how to fill out a job application, I worked as a teacher, you teach them how to say their name, how to handshake, the numbers, how to fill a job location, how to do a job interview, basic things like that, so that you can get a job. And I realized that I really love teaching. And then the next semester I worked with went this de salud, and that is I’m continuing my work with them this semester as well. And when this de salud works with children, and I’m basically tutoring children that are also their first language is Spanish. So I’m working with them to teach them math problems, because a lot of them struggle to read math problems before they can solve them. So I work with them to teach them math problems. I read with them things like that. And I realized that I really love education. So then I was like, Okay, let me add education as a minor. And then the summer this a long story, I apologize. I’ll keep going keep going. This summer, I went back to my high school. And, you know, because you know how the BLM protests, like exploded this summer. So that was a huge catalyst for me and a couple of my buddies to create a group in our high school that’s also focused on removing, you know, racial prejudice and just talking about these kinds of conversations. So we formed a group in my high school. We, my friend, Ana created this amazing Call to Action List, like a list of calls to action on how we can better our school district. And it was things such as change the whitewashed history that we’ve been teaching children change, the textbooks change. A lot of these things like implement a quota, a hiring quota for people of color, because we don’t have that and you need representation in schools. And so we started that, and I was like, Okay, I really like this administrative aspect, too. I really like. Like, maybe not necessarily teaching but seeing how I can mold education so that it’s more beneficial for students. And Communication Studies is nice, because there’s a track for policy and regulation and advocacy. So I’m combining my knowledge of policy and advocacy through communication studies, combining it with education to ultimately go down one track of education, policy and reform.
Kamila
I see. So basically, it was like, not just one semester, you realize, Oh, I like this history. I mean, this communication class I took, so I’m going to do so it was like over a series of
Lucy
Yep. Just all pieces all go into one. Yeah.
Kamila
Very, very cool. So do you have any plans to because I mean, I don’t know how the education realm or policy realm works exactly. But are you going to pursue like higher education in order to do this, or is that not necessary for your field?
Lucy
That’s a great question. So for my particular field, and from talking to professors and things like that, the most beneficial thing, if I ever want any credibility in this field, if I ever want anyone to listen to what I have to say, I need experience in the classroom first. So right now, I’m getting as much experience as I can, as a college student by doing nonprofit work. And I’m just volunteering like a couple of days a week. So it’s nothing super super demanding. I’m working Tuesdays Thursdays, it’s not that bad. After I graduate college, I’m going to start applying to Fulbright. With Fulbright, they have this thing called eta, I don’t know think is the proper word. But they have like the ETA fellowship, where if I choose a specific country, and if I want to study specific, like education, tactics in a specific country, if I make my case that I want to do research there, then I get money to go study in that country, and then possibly teach there and be a teaching assistant. So that’s Fulbright, if Fulbright doesn’t work because it is very competitive, I plan on doing Teach for America, which works internally. So I would be going to a school, like a domestic school somewhere in the United States. And also like just studying how education works there. And then right now, I’m just working up wentest, maybe going to go back to the Garcias Foundation, because I really, really loved working with them as well.
Kamila
It’s amazing. So yeah, it’s interesting to learn about the qualifications you need for for different, like career options. So yeah. Okay, I want to talk a few more. Talk about a few more things related to college. So number one, that interests me with almost everybody is the financial aspect of college. So did you ever in high school, let’s go back to high school? Did you ever feel the pressure to choose a school that you were financially able to pay for? Or were you or were you more fortunate to be able to like, choose have more options, because you were financially able to afford them.
Lucy
So for full disclosure, again, my parents are immigrants. And I do not have like as big of a backbone to fall back on. My parents are still struggling financially with like their own lives and building everything and things like that. And, again, for full transparency, my dad also lost his job last year. Fortunately, he found one, but he’s living in New Mexico right now. But we’re still not super financially stable. So with temple even though I know I’m saving money with Syracuse, and with temple, I didn’t choose it like financially completely, I chose it because I loved it. And then it also happened to be a school that isn’t super, super expensive. But even with temple, I’m still taking out loans, and I’m still like going to be the primary person paying back those loans.
Kamila
I see. Okay, so what so was you said that you pick temple? I mean, you made it really clear that you picked it because of the environment that you saw through Facebook? And then the financial aspect was like, not in the background? I would say, but definitely not like, I guess the driving factor as like the environment was. So did you come Did you ever come to like regret your decision at be going to temple because taking out loans of still have the decision to make and stuff? So did you ever have regrets with that?
Lucy
Never. I, I regretted coming to temple when I was a freshman for like a millisecond. And that’s because I wasn’t where I wanted to be socially. But with things like that, students need to understand that you know, you have to put like you. Some schools create an environment where you can make friends because they live on your floor or because like they just host things themselves. Temple is the kind of school that if you want to make circles, you want to make friends and things like that. And a lot of other schools are like that, too. You need to put yourself out there, and you need to consistently go to events, join organizations, find the people in your major and talk to them. But I never regretted my decision coming to temple and I never, I know that I’m going to be paying back loans for the rest of my life. But I also know that I’m going to remember this experience for the rest of my life. And I think that that outweighs the monetary value.
Kamila
See Interesting, interesting. So another thing I want to talk about you kind of mentioned it is you struggled socially and eventually you did make friends and friend groups because you did branch out. And colleges. I know it’s way different than high school, in terms of everything, but especially rigor as well. So did you find it really difficult to transition from high school to college with internet Like rigor of academics?
Lucy
That’s a great question. So my high school was very rigorous. I went to a white suburban high school in Massachusetts, where there are a lot of wealthy families, the taxes, like the property taxes are unbelievably high. And I was very fortunate to go to high school there. However, the environment there can sometimes be very toxic. I mentioned this before, some people would get a B plus, and their world would just become dark. That was an environment I grew up in. And as someone that, like, didn’t really care about grades, I think that I got through it, I don’t. So I got through it, because my life didn’t shatter. Every time I got a bad grade. Temple is a school where it’s a, it’s a lot easier than high school. And I’m also in a major that I love. I’m doing what I love. So my interest in there, my interest is there. And so I’m pouring everything into what I’m doing. As a result, because I love what I do, it becomes a little bit more effortless, right? There’s effort, but it’s like, I already know the kind of stuff I’m talking about. I know what I’m researching, and therefore my expertise is coming in. And it’s not like, it’s not like math where I don’t know a problem. It’s like I’m writing about my own experiences. And then I’m connecting them to the stuff that I’m learning. And that’s my major. The biggest difference between high school and college is the self discipline. So I didn’t have that self discipline in high school, which is why I suffered a lot. And because I knew what that self discipline worked, like, I could apply it to my college work, which is why I’m so much more successful here. As a college student,
Kamila
you said you went to and I can relate on this a very competitive, suburban high school with a bunch of wealthy people. So you said that people’s worlds shattered because they had a B plus that basically, they just didn’t have an A, and they thought it was the end of the world. And I see that happen at my school as well. So why do you think that kind of mentality didn’t affect you? Because I know a lot of people come into high school, they’re like, oh, okay, more school, but then they see everybody like, I need to get an A, I need to get an A and suddenly affects them. Why do you think you were kind of immune to that? Or was it like you kind of told yourself from the beginning, I’m not going to tell myself to get A’s A’s.
Lucy
Because I knew that my self worth wasn’t determined by grades, which is really tough for people to accept, really, really tough. And again, like my grades suffered because of it, because I knew that if I didn’t get an A on this paper, it wasn’t a reflection of who I am as a person. That’s something I learned from my parents at an early age, again, like self expression is huge for me. And when I, when I care about something that I do, when it’s a project that I plan on, like really, really putting all my work into it, that’s when I really shine. And I feel like that’s what will represent me as a person more than a letter grade on an essay that I didn’t really care about writing.
Kamila
That’s, that’s really great. And I’m glad you found that because a lot of people, especially in these competitive schools don’t realize that. So yeah, and actually goes into the last bit I want to talk to you about which is advice in general. So two pieces of advice, one for high school students right now they can be freshman, sophomore, junior senior, what advice would you give them in high school to do in high school, maybe something you’ve regretted? And then same for people who are going into college even though it looks really weird now, but going into college or kind of struggling in college? So can you tell me what you would say to both of those, both those group of people,
Lucy
to both Okay, to both of those groups of people, the biggest thing that I can say is that there’s not one direct road to success. The way that our education system is formatted right now, is that there’s one road that you have to take, you have to get good grades, you have to get a high GPA, and then boom, you go to college, and then that’s how you get successful, right? And then some people are like, okay, that’s not how you get successful, but they don’t really internalize that. They just say, you know, that’s maybe not the right. It’s not the only road that you have to take as a student. And as a result, because this strict railway because the strict road is so emphasized, some students get overwhelmed by it, and some students are like, okay, I’m not doing as well as my peers. So what if I just don’t try at all, and then you get people dropping out of schools, and then you get lower graduation rates like that, right? And what I will say, you don’t have to go to college. You don’t have to study STEM. You don’t have to be wealthy to be successful. Success is so subjective to every single person, I measure success as making a good dinner. I made a burger yesterday. And I was like, this is success for me right now. Because I’m not someone that cooks well. And because I made really, really good food, I was like, I was successful in my life today. And the way our life is structured as young people, as young adults, we have so many people telling us what we should do, what success looks like. And I think that that is so so wrong. I think that our education system needs to be more formatted individually. I think that as a student, you need to look at yourself, and you need to find what you like the most. You go to college to become a professional in a field, right? You go to college to study specific classes, and say, I know more about this particular subject than anyone else, because you put the time and effort to study this one thing. And to be able to study this one particular thing you need to find what you love to do. And to find what you love to do, you need to first and foremost listen to who you are as a person. Not while your guidance counselor tells you now what your teacher tells you not what your high school principal, I don’t even know if you talk to your high school principal, not even what your parents tell you until look at yourself, you understand, this is what I like to do as a person. I like working with children. And I like making the world a better place with for children, because I love children so much. I love hearing about people’s education experiences, even in conversations. And I know that this is a thing that I want to do for the rest of my life, I’m thinking long term about and I get excited when I think about my life. And you need to get excited when you think about your life. And you need to figure out what will make you excited for the next five years of your life, the next 10 In the next 15 years of your life. And piece all those little things together and form one ultimate goal for yourself. And last but not least, I also recommend reading Grit by Angela Duckworth, because that is the best book that I’ve ever read. For any kind of motivational. Like if you are feeling down, and you need motivation, grit gives you that motivation because it tells you how to structure your life, no matter what kind of person you are, and then read it again, read it twice. And then take notes.
Kamila
That was amazing. I mean, like people have told me specific advice like go study for the LSAT, you know, do what you’re like, join a bunch of clubs to get involved in college. This was really overarching and kind of like a life theme. I like that. Thank you very much. It’s very, very, very, very insightful. So well, we’re coming to an end here. Lucy, thank you very much for being interviewed. It was very different to have someone who wasn’t like, who basically didn’t, as you said, put their self worth in their grades and stuff. So thank you very much for coming in providing that insight.
Lucy
Yeah, for sure. This was amazing. I love talking to you so much. It’s such a cool experience.
Kamila
I wish you luck with college. I don’t know how it looks for you. But I hope it goes well. At least you’re like not a senior or graduated struggling for like a job or something. So yeah,
Lucy
it’s it’s tough. Well, actually, the job market right now is actually not doing as bad as people think. Because with remote working. And like if you’re a college student right now, too. I live in Philadelphia right now. And I can apply to a job in Colorado, because I can work from home, right? That’s like a huge, huge, huge benefit of COVID right now is remote jobs are going up the climb. So it’s not that there’s no jobs on the market. It’s that a lot of these jobs are hidden. And that’s another fun fact, too that I learned in college. I think the statistic is like 80% of jobs in the states are not listed. It’s all through connections. And that’s a huge thing too. You should always make connections because you might get one of those hidden jobs.
Kamila
Oh, yeah, that’s interesting. I hadn’t heard of that. Yeah. 80%
Lucy
It’s like a ridiculous statistic. It’s like super, super high. For no reason to, like, only if so 20% of jobs will be listed on marketplaces. Wow, isn’t that wow. That’s why you should always make connects with your teachers with your professors. Just Talk to anyone you can so that you can possibly ask them for a job in the future.
Kamila
Is that what you kind of plan to do? Because you have that insider tip now? Yep,
Lucy
every single person I talked to him like, yeah, you’re gonna get me a job one day. That’s the only reason. That’s the only reason I did this podcast was like, give me a job.
Kamila
Yeah, I’ll get you a job. Yeah. Me.
Lucy
Perfect. That’s, that’s perfect. That’s what I need. Yeah, that’s her.
Kamila
That’s her future plan together. Yeah. Well, thank you very much for coming. I hope you have whatever’s left of the day. Have a great night.
Lucy
Okay, I hope you have a great rest of your night. Thanks so much for talking to me.
Kamila
Thank you, you too. Bye bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai