Why Grinnell?
My high school definitely prepared me for college. In my junior and senior years, I took college classes that prepared me both academically and schedule-wise, since I did not take the same classes every single day.
When I was researching colleges, I looked for small classes in a liberal arts setting. I wanted to be in an academically rigorous environment, where there would be deep subject studies and no busy-work. I also wanted to swim.
I really liked the people at Grinnell when I came on my visit; the community was a big draw, and I could see myself here. The people I met on the swim team were very welcoming and accepted me as part of the group. I felt like I could fit in really well!
My first year as a student at Grinnell was in 2019, before the pandemic. When I first arrived, I wanted to be a biology major and I was interested in research. I took an introduction to biology class here and I had a lot of fun. I ended up taking an introduction to anthropology class with Professor Marshack my first semester, too.
My First-Year Tutorial class was about food and farming, and it was taught by a neuroscience professor. My professor and tutorial adviser (same person) made the class community-focused, and I enjoyed a friendly and close relationship with him because of that. We would go to a local farm together, cook together, and eat some meals together.
During my visit to Grinnell as a prospective student, the people I met on the swim team were very welcoming and accepted me as part of the group. I continued to experience this great community after I arrived on campus.
Now as a captain, I strive to make swimming fun for others and be a good example.
Interesting Classes
Coming back from the pandemic, I wanted to enjoy my time here and study what I wanted to study. I wanted to give myself the freedom to pursue what I wanted to pursue.
Anthropology ended up being that for me. My favorite classes to this day are 1) a first-year anthropology course I took called Culture and Agriculture and 2) a seminar called War, Peace, and Human Nature. I got to make a podcast in the seminar class as an assignment.
Community While Traveling
I took a course-embedded travel class called Collective Memory. My classmates, professor, and I went to Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and a couple of additional small cities in Northern Ireland.
It was super fun being abroad with the people from my class because we got super close. Having that outside-of-the-classroom experience with my professors and classmates further amplified a shared sense of community. The experience really helped turn classmates into friends. It made the class experience more enjoyable, as it was very interesting to experience a subject in such depth.
The summer after my second year at Grinnell, I wanted to do something community-focused so I could help people and learn in a new way. So, I found an AmeriCorps internship on an urban farm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Every summer, this nonprofit remodels peoples’ houses for free. I led a project on exterior work, which involved yardwork and painting. I matched up the volunteers to make sure that the volunteers’ experiences were taken into account with the assignments. There were volunteers who had experience with a professional construction site, but there were also volunteers who didn’t have that sort of experience at all.
From this experience, I learned the importance of not taking things for granted. We had a really good AmeriCorps cohort, and we’re all still friends.
While I was abroad in Cambodia, I conducted research on gentrification and housing. My research built on the concepts that I learned in my summer internship with AmeriCorps, and I grew even more passionate about housing.
Although some people in the program initially struggled with the workload, I felt prepared. Grinnell’s academic rigor definitely prepared me for the kinds of work that we did in my off-campus study experience.
Passion for Housing
When I got back from Cambodia, I dove deeply into my passion for housing.
During the spring semester of my third year, I found a position at the Grinnell Housing Authority through our career advising office. In the summer, I worked with Build a Better Grinnell, where I examined community and social issues. I continued with the Housing Authority during my senior year.
In classes, I took a policy seminar focused on housing policy, and I conducted two research projects related to housing.
