Don't Leave Anything Undone

Jackie Ricca is pursuing an Earth and Oceanographic Science and Environmental Studies major with a minor in Education. She is back at Bowdoin as a senior after a year abroad in New Zealand. She discuss how her education has given her a sense of responsibility and her study away provided some life-altering perspective.

I Wasn't the Person I Thought I Wanted To Be

Hannah Baggs, from Columbus, OH, is graduating from Bowdoin with a coordinate major in Earth and Oceanographic Studies and Education. She reflects on how she came to see herself as a doer rather than a thinker. Hannah also discusses the significance of women as mentors in finding her way. In the fall, Hannah will work at the Keystone Science School in Colorado.

I'm Not the Biggest Partyer

Senior Roya Moussapour is a Physics major with an Education minor from Larchmont, NY. She reflects on the significance of family in her life, moments when her mother acted like a “helicopter parent” and why she’s called “Dad” in her a capella group. Having lived off-campus for two years, Roya weighs on the College’s decision to limit off-campus student housing. Roya has worked for NASA and will work for an economic consulting firm after graduation.

I Had This Interaction with a Man in a YMCA Hot Tub

Hailing from Oakland, CA, Jack Mitchell is a senior majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Education. He discusses how his interaction with a man in a YMCA hot tub shaped the course of his learning for the past three years. Jack shares how he became a more confident and competent person by working as a rafting guide and trip leader.

I Felt Inadequate at Times

David Wu, from San Francisco, is double majoring in Economics and Government and minoring in Asian Studies. My conversation with David is first in a mini-series of episodes with students who were in my first-year seminar their first semester at Bowdoin and who have taken a course with me in their senior year. David discusses how he thinks fellow students waste time at Bowdoin and how he overcame his culture shock to be confident in the classroom. David started a financial services business while at Bowdoin and will continue this work after graduation.

Sometimes Being a Person of Color Is a Class in Itself

Dylan Goodwill is a senior from Window Rock, Arizona majoring in Mathematics and Education and minoring in History. She is Diné, Lakota and Dakota; Dylan serves as Co-President of the Native American Student Association at Bowdoin and was elected to be the At-Large Representative for the Ivy Native Council. She offers advice for Native students considering elite colleges and talks about the challenges of being in the Northeast in the midst of the activism at Standing Rock.

I've Really Come Into Myself Here

Kate Berkley is a junior from Kansas City, MO who is studying political theory and literature. She reflects on her decision not to study away from Bowdoin and why she limited her participation in extracurricular activities. Last summer, she knocked my socks off as my research assistant. This summer, she'll be in Wyoming leading wilderness trips with middle schoolers.

Be Open to Other People's Interpretations of Your Opinion

Kyle Losardo, from Harrison, RI, describes how he has found a way to listen to his inner self and be confident in his beliefs. As a white male conservative, he works through political tension by engaging in conversations rooted in trust. Kyle is an offensive lineman on Bowdoin’s football team and plays guitar in the student band Duck Blind. He has been accepted into the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program and will be student teaching math in a Portland, ME middle school next semester.

It’s Hard To Conceive that I’m Valuable in Certain Spaces

Ty Johnson is a senior from Baltimore who is majoring in Government and minoring in dance. He discusses the challenges of being understood and valued as a 23-year-old black man in the U.S. and abroad. Ty reflects on how he has found meaning and purpose in the Bible, Plato, and other great works.

I've Had My Fair Share of Small Talk

Emily Weyrauch, a senior from Connecticut, discusses her focus on developing more meaningful relationships. She explains how her class on bird songs led to her serving as artist-in-residence on a small island in the Bay of Fundy. Emily is an English major with a concentration in creative writing and an Education minor. She is the managing editor of The Bowdoin Orient.

I Passed for a Very Long Time

Born in Hiroshima, Japan and raised in New York City, senior Mitsuki Nishimoto describes how Prep for Prep enabled her to attend Bowdoin College. Becoming an Asian Studies major, she believes, might be the point when she stopped passing as a "model minority." Mitsuki is co-president of the Asian Studies Association and is on the residential life head staff.

Bowdoin's About Working on Yourself

Ryan Strange is a senior from East Granby, CT who is majoring in Government and minoring in Education. He recounts his strangest experiences at Bowdoin and in Los Angeles, where he interned at HBO this summer. Ryan reflects on the reasons he mentors with Harpswell Coastal Academy's Gender and Sexuality Alliance and why he decided to join the Residential Life staff in his senior year.

I Never Knew What I Would Do at College Once I Got There

Diego Guerrero is a rising junior from Dallas majoring in math. Despite being motivated primarily by a desire to skip high school classes, his exploratory visit to Bowdoin gave him a sense of what it would be like for college to be more than a to-do item. Diego finds it easy to connect with professors during office hours. He worked on my #teachertweets project as a Gibbons Fellow this summer.

I'm at a Point Where I Don't Have a Good Answer

Greg Koziol is a rising senior from Summit, NJ. He discusses how he has adjusted his self-understandings and priorities after sustaining two concussions. Unexpectedly and unrelated to the concussions, I learn the real reason why he looked so ill in one of my classes! Greg is a Gender and Women’s Studies major with a minor in Computer Science. He is a co-founder of Bowdoin’s Board Game Club and recommends three of his favorites.

Sometimes I Think I'm Losing It

Esther Nunoo discusses the role of intuition in her life and how she is trying to trust her gut more often. A rising senior majoring in Anthropology, Esther reflects on how Bowdoin has challenged her spiritually, academically, and socially – but not in the ways she had anticipated. As a first-gen student, Esther talks about the challenges of explaining Bowdoin to her family and what she learned while studying abroad in India.  Esther is from Ghana and the Bronx.

What Are My Professors Reading?

Harriet Fisher is studying patterns of arrests for heroin possession in Maine through the Gibbons Fellowship. As the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) President, she wants to ensure that BSG offers a safe space for all students to air their concerns about and hopes for campus affairs. Harriet is a Government and Legal Studies major with a minor in Education. She hails from Brooklyn, NY and would like to eat lunch with her professors more often.

I Finally Found My Groove

You may find John Sledge wandering around Brunswick, and noting the effects of his presence in the community, as he enjoys his second summer in Maine. John reflects on his difficult academic transition to Bowdoin and how he sees the liberal arts as a site for radicalism. He reveals his arachnophobia to all listeners and closes with an a cappella invocation for our troubled times. John is a rising junior who hails from New Orleans.

A Lot of Care Comes from Staff at Bowdoin

On the heels of the Cavaliers' NBA Finals win, Cleveland native Olivia Bean discusses the significance of carbs, friendship, and solitude in her life. She explains why she is no longer pre-med, despite asking for and receiving a doctor's kit for Christmas every year, beginning at the age of 2. Olivia believes the liberal arts have made her a better citizen of the world. She is on campus this summer developing the first-year orientation trips for the Outing Club. Olivia is a Chemistry major with a concentration in teaching and an Education minor.

If You Take One Path, You Might Not Be Able To Go Back

In May, Shanna Yue graduated with honors in neuroscience and earned a minor in education studies. She reveals her secret to her staying calm despite her worry that choosing a path based on current interests might close down others. Shanna was co-leader for Harpswell Community Mentoring through the McKeen Center for the Common Good. This summer she is working as a research assistant in a pediatric endocrinology lab at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC.  Shanna is from Dobbs Ferry, NY.

Researching Lived Experience: Students of Color Getting to and through Elite Colleges

Rising Senior Walter Chacón is a Sociology major with a minor in Education Studies from Lynn, MA. He discusses the need for teachers, professors, and others working in student support roles to possess cultural competency. His upcoming honors project examines the experiences of students of color who make up the "privileged poor," those who attend elite prep schools prior to matriculating at highly-selective colleges, and students of color who may be "doubly disadvantaged" because they are underprepared by their schools to succeed in colleges like Bowdoin. Walter is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and a Senior Interviewer for Bowdoin College Admissions.