Grow Yourself by Knowing Yourself

In 2017, I made the decision to move to Pennsylvania for school from my hometown in Florida. I had lived in the same town and in the same house all of my life, so making this shift was a HUGE change. 

During my first year, the recurring thought screaming in my head was “WHAT. DID. I. AGREE. TO?” I was very homesick, and I found myself marking the days in between each break. It was not that the campus wasn’t inviting, but that adjusting to my new environment was so much harder than I expected when I committed to Arcadia. I would daydream about what it would be like to move back to Florida. 

Fast forward to 2021, and wow, am I grateful I never acted on those thoughts because who I am now is greatly shaped by attending Arcadia. Every single class that I have taken at Arcadia has had some element of social justice in the lessons. These additions to the lessons are what I believe have really unearthed my passion for community outreach. 

My goal is to become a Clinical Mental Health Counselor so that I can work within my community to heal intergenerational trauma. Again, I believe if I would have attended a school in Florida, I would have remained a Biology major and followed an entirely different track. I wouldn’t be pursuing a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. 

Arcadia is the place to release the pressure and rigid expectations and merely find yourself. I have been able to earn an internship with a reentry program, preview Sicily, and make so many wholesome friends attending this university. Arcadia allows space to really unpack who you are and everything you want to be a part of in the future. 

If I could talk to first-year me, I would tell her that this is exactly where you are supposed to be.