Self-Discovery Category
If Music Be the Food of Love
Sep. 5, 2019—Ben Donohoe, ’22, Arts and Sciences It’s a Sunday afternoon. I swing open the door and enter a chilly, almost eerily quiet space with black walls and rows of empty chairs, striding up onto the stage until I stand in front of two reassuringly smiling faces. I introduce myself and take a deep breath.“If music...
A Musical Journey
Jan. 28, 2019—Jordan Couceyro, ’20, Arts & Sciences Even though I’ve played piano since I was a kid, I’ve never really considered myself a musician. I’m not sure exactly why – I was fairly decent, and I really liked playing. I loved learning about and playing a wide variety of different styles, from classical to jazz to...
A Dream Come True
Dec. 3, 2018—Sharonda Adams, ’21, College of Arts & Sciences If you had told me eight years ago that I’d be a student at a prestigious university, I’d have asked you one question: “What’s a university?” Growing up in poverty, I did not have the resources to learn about what higher education truly was. I didn’t dream...
Intersecting Identities
May. 15, 2017—Anuska Dhar, ’19 Peabody College Walking into the org fair my freshman year, I felt this weight lifted off my shoulders as I realized I could totally reinvent myself in college and explore interests I had never been able to prioritize before in high school. Granted, the possibilities seemed a little overwhelmingly endless, but...
Living With a Disability
May. 15, 2017—Carla Pax, ’19 School of Engineering The summer before my sophomore year of college, I found myself in a lot of pain. I had trouble lifting my arms above my head, dressing myself in the morning, or even being able to bend my fingers. It seemed that every joint in my body was inflamed...
Thank You, ASB
May. 15, 2017—Agatha Fenech, ’19 College of Arts and Science *Alternative Spring Break (ASB) gives Vanderbilt University students an opportunity to spend their Spring Break working in service to communities and individuals across the country and the globe. Standing at the Student Org Fair. Hearing your VUceptor say, “Hey, you should really check out Alternative Spring...
I Live for the Stage
May. 15, 2017—Akash Majumdar, ’19 Vanderbilt Performing Arts Community I live for the stage. Every time the curtains rise, I experience a surge of adrenaline combined with the desire to resonate with my audience. While preparing to make the journey from Kolkata, India to Vanderbilt, I rummaged through Vanderbilt’s 500+ student organizations, trying to gauge my potential...
Walking Fast and Slow. Learning to “Profiter”
May. 2, 2017—Elizabeth Winter, ’18 College of Arts and Science Student VUceptor It’s hard to escape a conversation in Aix-en-Provence, a small city in the south of France, without hearing the phrase “profiter de,” translating roughly to “make the most of” or “enjoy” two to three times. Whether it’s “profiter d’Aix” (enjoy Aix), or “profiter du soleil”...
From D to Dean
May. 2, 2017—Vanessa Beasley, Ph.D. Dean of The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons When I remember it now, I can still hear the sound of my mother crying. In the 1980s, when I was a Vanderbilt undergraduate, your final semester grades were sent home via the mail. There was no way for students to look up your final...
Identity, Adversity, and the Weight of Conforming
May. 2, 2017—“…I thought he was gay…”—five words that haunted me for the first twenty years of my life. I heard them whispered through the halls of my middle school by the “popular kids” that I wanted so badly to impress. I felt their scornful and demoralizing intentions in the concerned words of my Sunday school teachers...