Name: Tessy Loew
Major: Psychology
Position in HC @ ODU: Senior Editor and Writer
Other Campus Involvement: Alpha Xi Delta
HC: What is your major?
Tessy: āI am a Psychology major right now, and then I will go on to add a Human Services major. Iāll also add a Criminal Justice minor. So, Iāll be a double major with a minor, and maybe a concentration.ā
HC: Thatās a lot. How do you manage your time?
Tessy: āI donāt. I really donāt, you can ask [my roommate]. I will go to classes, and then Iāll get lunch with my roommates, and after that Iāll sit with them in the library for hours. Iām also in a sorority now, and they require you to have a certain number of study hours. It definitely helps, because if I didnāt have to do it I definitely would not. Itās a lot of planning; I have a planner and the calendar in my phone is completely full. The month of October is completely blocked out. Itās all color coded.ā
HC: What is your favorite thing about being in Her Campus?
Tessy: āOh my gosh, the girls. The girls are my favorite thing. [They are] all so funny, and so out of the box. I probably wouldāve never met any of these girls if I wasnāt in Her Campus because weāre all so different and we hang out with all sorts of people outside of our organization. I also just love the meaning behind Her Campus, and how weāre all for the empowerment of women. I especially love the girls, though. Theyāre all so crazy.ā
{We go off on a tangent here and Tessy talks about how she acts with the people who are closest to her. She gets a Snapchat call from one of her ātinder boys,ā and we talk about how most guys on Tinder donāt want a relationship or to get to know people. She hopes that someone will read this article and say āI wanna find this girl and meet her because sheās funky.ā I also challenge her to a social media cleanse.}
HC: What is the most difficult thing about editing?
Tessy: āProfiles and personal narratives are so hard because Iām afraid that if I change the words Iāll change the meaning in your words. Most of the time Iāll just add in a comment with an editing suggestion. You donāt have to take my edits, but take my edits. (laughs) In interviews, I just look for grammar, cause you canāt change a personās words, what they say. [I try not to edit their words too much] cause then itās not their words anymore, and it kind of decreases the meaning behind being interviewed and being profiled. Personal narratives are definitely difficult too cause I donāt want to change what you said. You say what you say for a reason. Thatās definitely a big philosophy of mine. I donāt want to change anybodyās words. I just want to make them better without losing the meaning behind them. I didnāt write [them], so I donāt know the meaning 110%, but I definitely love editing articles. Itās so fun. There are new articles every week and I get to see how everyone improves in their writing.ā
HC: So you say that your philosophy is to mean what you say. Do you apply that to more things in life besides writing?
Tessy: āYes! Iām a big texter. If I have something to say to you, I will really think about what I have to say because words can affect people a lot. Iām a religious person and I believe that everything in the universe happens for a reason, and if I put anything negative out there it will come back and affect me.ā
HC: So you believe in karma?
Tessy: āYeah, I definitely believe in things coming back around and smacking you in the a**. I feel like everyone has a set alignment that theyāre supposed to be on. Letās say youāre on your path, and youāre doing great, and then I come along and say something to you and you get off of your path. I believe that that is going to come back around and affect me. Iām also a Christian, and you can apply this to that religion too, because God has you set on a certain path but you also have free will. So it all just kind of like *clicks tongue*. Itās a big circle. I love that we have so many different religions because we all just believe the same philosophy, in a way. I donāt know, I could talk about it for hours.ā
HC: Do you think that your religion and your philosophy affect how you learn about Psychology?
Tessy: āIt think it does affect me because people talk about Psychology being very scientific. Thereās a fine line with Psychology because itās between being a science and a health science. At ODU weāre actually in the Sciences College rather than the Health Sciences College. Psychology is very scientific, but thereās also a philosophical aspect to it. Itās so complex, and thereās so much that Iām learning about it. I donāt think I will learn enough in four years. I think that my religion and philosophy has affected the way that I learn about psychology. Ask me again in four years, when Iām in grad school.ā
HC: You used to ride horses?
Tessy: āNot professionally, but on my grandpaās farm in South Carolina, yeah. I was born in South Carolina, and then when I was adopted, I moved up to Richmond and thatās where I was raised. Everyone that I refer to as family is my adoptive family. I donāt know any biological family. I donāt know though, I might have met them. I go back to where I was adopted from all the time. My grandma was the social worker at the time, and she called my parents and said āI have this teenager who wants to give her baby up for adoption, would you be interested in going in the pile?ā and they were like āsure!ā My parents struggled with fertility issues, and so they said that they would love to. My biological mother had no idea that my adoptive parents were related to her social worker, and still picked them. My biological mother and grandparents lived in the same town, so I couldāve run into her in the grocery store and never known.ā
{Towards the end we talked more about her philosophies in life and she gushed about the Her Campus girls– again. You can really tell how dedicated she is to the things she cares about and how fiercely she represents the growing and learning college student, as well as someone who stands up for sexual assault victims. What a gal.}
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