How do you feel with graduation nearly five weeks away?
“I feel ready, I’d say, which I think is a good thing. I think there’ll be moments where It’s very mundane and it’ll be like, oh my gosh, it can’t come soon enough. Then there’ll be other moments where I’m in my suite with my roommates. Like we’re all brushing our teeth together. And I just have this moment of how can I ever leave this place? But I think those both are going to naturally balance as you continue to go through this. Graduation itself is not necessarily something that I’m looking forward to, but I’m very much looking forward to the next chapter.”
Do you feel like you’ve changed over the course of your time at Hamilton?
“Yeah, I think I’ve changed a lot over my time at Hamilton. I think I’ve gotten a lot more confident in myself, and a lot more sure of what I want in life, and more decisive. I think it’s definitely been attributed to the experiences that I’ve had, and just putting myself out of my comfort zone to be able to grow. I think the experiences are a huge part of it. When I came to college, I was very quiet.I was very shell shocked and shy. I think being able to meet people and feel so accepted by the people that I’m around and also just try so many different things has been so critical to becoming who I am today.”
What advice would you give to students in the grade below you about how to get the most out of their Hamilton experience?
“Personally, I’ve kind of had a moment this semester, especially ‘if not now, when?’ that I keep telling myself to try new things and basically just push myself outside of my comfort zone because, but I think especially by the time that you’re a junior, hopefully Hamilton feels like a really safe and welcoming space. So I think it’s a really great opportunity to then from there, be able to push yourself and keep meeting new people and keep doing new things. My ‘if not now when?’ moment this week was actually when I signed up for Ham Trek for the full thing. So, I have to train to swim now. I set up a schedule with my friend, uh, with my, one of my roommates actually during lunch, Sam. We’re going to start going to the pool almost every day to start training. Because again, when am I going to be in a place, for the time being right now, where I feel this comfortable to try and honestly, most likely make a fool out of myself.”
What makes Hamilton special?
“I think it’s 100 percent the people. What I love about Hamilton is all of my friends and of those relationships and I don’t think it would be the same without them. The relationships that you build throughout and just being able to grow up with people for four years is a really cool and unique experience.”
What has been a meaningful extracurricular experience at Hamilton?
“It has to be rugby, without a doubt. I joined the rugby team my sophomore fall because my wonderful roommate, Rebecca, was the social chair and she needed people to join. I was captain for two full semesters. I think that really was just such an experience being able to channel everyone’s enthusiasm into something really special. I mean, also, it’s running outside on a field with your friends or people that you’re about to become friends with. What could be better?
Is there a particular moment that you remember when you realized that Hamilton was a place that you belonged?
“It wasn’t my freshman year, which I feel like is not typical. It was actually my sophomore year. I very specifically remember the Fall carnival. They had a bouncy house, and me and Rebecca were doing a relay race. And I remember just feeling so genuinely happy in that moment and feeling like I actually belonged in this space that I maybe didn’t feel like that for the first year, but really wanted to.”
What are three of your favorite memories at Hamilton?
“Parents weekend of last year’s rugby game. It was our biggest crowd that we’d ever had. And also I scored three tries. We had a team tailgate afterwards which was also really cool because these are girls that I’ve been playing with for over a year and it was really nice to be able to chat with their families and learn more about them. I’ve kind of enjoyed the mundane of living in the suite. We play Hamilton Headbands which is a game that is kind of like normal headbands, but we make them on post it notes, and they all have to do with Hamilton. So like, Diner Sushi or like Jeff McCarns dog is one of them. I think it also just speaks a lot to the fact that we really all are living the same life. Yesterday, I had a really good moment. I was with three of my closest friends abroad, who actually are all from Hamilton. We all went down to the watering hole and it’s just really nice. And it was a gorgeous day for it.”
What are you excited for post-grad?
“I think it’s hard to sometimes hold that you’re very sad for this moment to end, but also very excited for what comes next. You obviously don’t want to dismiss this moment by focusing too much on what’s ahead but I do think that it’s still something that I definitely am really looking forward to. I really like my job. I find it really interesting and engaging, which is super exciting. I’m also moving to New York and I haven’t really ever lived in a big city before, which is really exciting. There’s also a lot of Hamilton people who are going to be there and I’m really excited to be able to continue to grow those relationships.”
