Surprise! You thought you might’ve seen the last of me when my last article with Her Campus UFL was published. Well, I’m happy to say that after starting graduate school here at TAMU, I have joined the Her Campus TAMU team. After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in May, I realized that one of the things I missed was being a part of Her Campus. When I found out there was a chapter at my graduate school, I applied right away and thankfully got in.
My field of study is materials science and engineering. It’s the major I was meant to be in. I love how you develop the materials that are essential for our everyday lives and how you learn how these materials work. However, there was always a part of me that loved writing, which is why I joined HC UFL back in the Fall 2017 semester. There are others that would draw, sing, dance, and use other forms of art to express themselves – but mine was always writing.
Coming into graduate school, I knew that I would be the busiest I have ever been in my twenty-two years of life. I’m in a Ph.D. program now for Materials Science and Engineering and it is such an experimental, lab work-heavy discipline, especially with the work that I am doing. I knew that my stress levels would be higher than what I’m used to, and especially with the pandemic still happening, I wouldn’t have as many coping methods as I did before the pandemic. That’s why I was drawn to joining Her Campus again. I just wanted to find an outlet for my writing again and this was the way it was meant to be.
Coming here, I knew no one. I don’t think one student from UF came here for graduate school. I was alone. Especially with the pandemic happening, I couldn’t go out to socialize, go to mixers, or interact with students. It especially doesn’t help that all my classes are online (not that I would go to live classes anyways in the current state of things). It’s even hard for me to hang out or socialize with people in my research group because a lot of us are “work-from-home” for a decent chunk of our week. Bearing this in mind, I wanted to get a head start on connecting with people on the TAMU campus, so joining HC TAMU allows me to do so even if it’s all through Zoom.
During the summer, I actually had my first true LONG vacation ever since my freshman year of undergrad. I made it a point to relax as I knew I would not get another vacation for a very long time due to my Ph.D. program. It caused me to reflect on how my undergrad experience went and what I’m going to miss about it. It made me realize that I have a lot of stories I want to tell that I wasn’t able to yet. I realized I wanted to be with Her Campus again. There’s so much more in articles that I can explore and talk about. Especially with the pandemic, I have unique experiences from it that I want to share in articles. Even as a graduate student, I know that I have unique experiences being in graduate school that’s not really talked about. With all the recent developments happening in terms of social justice, I know I have something to say about it as well. There’s so much I have left to say, and I want to share it with the world. Thankfully, HC TAMU has given me the opportunity to do so.
Get ready for more content from me. Three years left me wanting more and here I am to serve articles to you. Hopefully, you get a kick out of what I write and I’ll do my best to provide great content.
If you’re going into grad school and want to be in something amazing, I highly recommend Her Campus. I’m proof of how amazing it is. After all, I’m still in it.