With the semester quickly coming to a close and commencement approaching, Her Campus Emmanuel will sadly be saying goodbye to two of our Executive Board members. I was lucky enough to get to sit down with our current Marketing and Publicity Director, Liz Staal, and talk about her college experience and what will be coming next.
Liz showing her true feelings about graduating at the Senior Cap and Gown Ceremony last semester
Her Campus at Emmanuel: Hi, Liz! Thank you so much for finding time to sit down with me. I know you must be pretty busy with commencement coming up.
Liz Staal: Yeah, it gets pretty busy with everything finishing at once, so I’m just trying to tie everything up right now.
HCE: What degree will you be graduating with?
LS: I’ll be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English, Communication, and Media Studies, with two minors: one in Psychology and one in Music- Theater.
HCE: Do you have a dream job?
LS: I don’t know exactly what I want my job to be, but I know I want it to be something creative, and communications covers all the creative aspects of companies. By having that as my major, it has allowed me to explore different opportunities. My most concrete and general dream is to have a job that allows travel. I might want to go into dance or theater therapy, specifically for kids with autism, which is something I would go to grad school for if I chose that path. I don’t want to dive into that unless I’m one hundred and ten percent sure, though. I also think it would be really great to have a theater troupe or company of some sort that would perform in children’s hospitals, and they would perform things like fairytales to teach the kids to have hope and to dream again. But for now, in this time in my life, I really just want to embrace being able to try out different things and explore possibilities, so that I will feel more confident in choosing a specific path down the road.
HCE: That’s a good plan. I know some people dread this question, but do you have plans for after graduation?
LS: This is a question that most people throw at you after you graduate, but I do have plans. I currently work for the Boston Ballet School. I’m the studio administrator, and I will finish out their school year through June. Then in July, I’m moving to Seattle for the rest of the summer to work for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Summer Intensive. I also get free classes while I’m there, so that doesn’t hurt either. When I leave Seattle, I’m definitely coming back to Boston. I have a lease signed for an apartment, and I’m excited to come back. I’m not sure what job I’ll hold come September, but I recently finished my internship at Channel 7 News and I left on good terms. We discussed the possibility of employment before I left, so that’s something I have the option of pursuing.
HCE: It sounds like you’ll be keeping busy! If you could go back to the beginning of your college experience, what advice would you give yourself?
LS: I would tell myself to embrace change more, because it’s something that used to be more intimidating to me. I transferred schools halfway through my sophomore year, and I spent a summer in London after my freshman year, so I learned to really love change. Especially after transferring, I really saw how positive change is, and I learned to embrace adventure. It’s not that I didn’t before, but I guess now I’m actively seeking out adventure. Its like I can’t stop; I’m always looking for the next thing to do.
HCE: What has been your favorite part of your college experience, or what are some of your most memorable moments?
LS: This is a big question. It’s hard because you go through so many different experiences and grow so much. Different experiences are equally important, but for different reasons. I think in general, all of the Performing Arts productions I’ve been able to be a part of have been some of the best experiences. Without them, my college career would be entirely different. Being able to go on ASB trips is something that I’m really grateful for, and those were really unique opportunities that I don’t know if I would have had at another school. In general, though, I love thinking about the everyday moments with my friends. It’s hard to articulate or pinpoint specific moments of our time together, because their friendships in entirety have been so influential and important to me.
HCE: Those sound like some really special memories. With your Snapchat filter article having over 40,000 views, is it right to assume that that is one of your most memorable moments as part of HCE?
LS: Absolutely; that’s mind blowing to me that it’s still being circulated. I wrote that article really quickly on a whim one afternoon.
HCE: How did it feel to have your article getting so much attention?
LS: Obviously, you hope that your article will be well received and popular, but I never expected it to be nationally received, and so well. It’s just really exciting, but also very shocking to me that people keep reading it.
HCE: You have clearly been such a wonderful contribution to our team. What has been your favorite part about being a part of HCE?
LS: I love the platform that has been created, because it gives us writers the capacity to write about what’s important to us. This means different things to all of our team members, which is really great because it gives us diverse content. I’m grateful to have been able to give voice to topics that are important to me through HCE.
Well, I think I can speak for the whole team when I say we will really miss having you as a part of the team. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today, Liz, and congratulations on all of your accomplishments!