GURJOT KANG; Opinion Editor; kanggk@plu.edu
Grace Hancock; Art major with photography concentration, Women and Gender studies minor
When Grace Hancock first came to Pacific Lutheran University, she was an intended music major. However, after some self-reflection on her love for art, she declared a major in art at the beginning of her sophomore year.
In the midst of her junior year, Hancock decided she still wanted to pursue art, but she made a career change to focus on education. She was inspired to make this important decision by some of her professors, such as Associate Professor of History Beth Griech-Polelle.
In her decision to pursue the education route, Hancock will be joining Teach For America, an organization that trains people to become a teacher and places them in a low-income school district in the U.S.
“You get to serve students who really need your help and you can make a really big impact, so that’s something that I knew I wanted to do that I wanted to give back to my community. As someone who has also came from a low-income school district, I’ve seen firsthand how that experience can be so I wanted to bring my knowledge to that as well.”
Hancock is very excited about the work she will be doing with Teach For America where she will be living at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and starting her two-year job.
After these two years, Hancock hopes to either teach English abroad or just take time to travel, as she’s interested in travel photography. Also, because she will have a Master’s at the end of her two years in Vegas, Hancock is considering becoming a professor later in life, either teaching photography or early childhood education.
As Hancock gets ready to graduate PLU, there a lot of memories she wishes to hold on to, including her friends and all the people she cares about.
“The majority of my happiness that’s come from PLU has been really the people that I’ve met while I’ve been here,” Hancock said.
Hancock will always remember the quality moments she’s had with her friends despite everything that’s happening around her and all their busy schedules. She is a big believer in living in the moment and being grateful for what’s happening now.
In regards to her first year of college, Hancock’s advice to herself would be to “really focus on and prioritize yourself […] Just taking the time to do things that you love and be okay with going against the grain despite what others may be putting on to you or what others think of you […] Be proud of your accomplishments no matter how big or small they are.”
For her future self, Hancock wants to remind herself to “keep your strength, always be yourself, stay true to yourself, don’t do anything to compromise your morals or what you know is right […] There are going to be challenges and not everything is going to be easy, so always keeping your determination and remembering that you have goals and that you can achieve them as long as you keep the fight up.”
Looking back on her time at PLU, Hancock will never forget the sense of community she built during her time here.
“I think that I’ve done a lot of growing up since my first year whether that’s just in my views of the world and like how I am in space. It’s been really enlightening and I learned just a lot about myself. So, I think that will definitely be something that I take with me—the self-discovery and just like really growing into who you are and being confident in yourself.”
Matthew Salzano; Communication & Women and Gender Studies majors
When Matthew Salzano came to PLU, he knew he wanted to be a communication major. He thought he was going to focus on public relations, but after Professor of Communication Joanne Lisosky took him down to the Mast office and introduced him to the staff, he was inspired to explore different options in the major. He ended up choosing to focus in communication studies after he studied abroad at the Oxford with the IHON program in his junior year.
“While I was there, it clicked with me that the sort of writing and thinking I wanted to do was what scholars did, so then journalism became communication studies […]. By the time I was back at PLU junior year, my career goals had changed a bit from wanting to be a journalist to wanting to be an academic,” Salzano said.
A year later, after taking a class on “Gender and Communication” and writing an op-ed on slacktivism in the Mast, Salzano declared his second major, Women’s and Gender Studies.
Since his first year, Salzano has felt like there have been three moments at PLU that have most shaped his life: coming out and accepting his sexuality, studying away at Oxford and coping with his mother’s passing away.
“Those things have all fundamentally changed September 2014 Matt to May 2018 Matt […] They’re really tied together: coming out opened up how I was hiding my emotions, going to Oxford opened up how I was unwilling to claim things that I should have been proud of […] and with the death of my mother, it was like ‘there are profound connections to my family that I have been unwilling to explore and understand,’” Salzano said. “That experience and letting people help me through […] was a fundamental part of who I became now.”
Salzano also mentioned how his experiences at PLU opened his eyes: “I didn’t realize how many limits there were on myself until I went somewhere where those limits weren’t imposed. It was like ‘wow, I have been really fitting into a box,’ I thought I was saying, ‘[screw] the box, like I’m better than the box. I think outside the box.’ And then you actually escape it and then you’re like ‘oh, wow, there really was still this.’ It really did have a hold on me in certain ways.”
As Salzano continues to step outside the box in the future, his next chapter in life leads him to the University of Maryland, College Park where he plans to get a PhD in Rhetoric and Political Culture. Although he is ready to graduate, Salzano feels like the memories, moments, experiences and “glowing-up” he has done during his time at PLU have truly changed his life.
Andrew Corse; Theatre major; Music minor
When coming to PLU, Andrew Corse decided that he wanted to do what he loves most: follow his artistic and musical interests. At first, Corse was having split thoughts about whether to go into music or theatre, but after taking an intro to theatre class, he knew that was his choice.
“I was like oh my gosh, this is the department I belong in. This is my home and these are my people and I fell in love with it and have been there since,” Corse said.
As Corse gets ready to graduate this May and reflects back on his time at PLU, he mentioned that if he could go back in time and give his first-year self some advice, he would tell himself to get involved sooner.
But for his future self, he wants to tell himself, “Oh you probably have so many exciting things ahead of you, Andrew! Like, so many doors that you’re never even going to know about—you’re just going to stumble upon something and fall in love with it and it will whisk you away to some really cool career […] The future is bright. That’s cheesy, but it’s true. It’s scary, it’s exciting, but it’s good that it’s all of those things.”
One day, Corse hopes that his future will lead him to potentially getting a Master’s of Fine Arts in Theatre.
Overall, as he prepares to cross the stage at graduation, there are certain memories, like getting his first Hinderlie Hall T-shirt, participating in Sound-Off victories, facilitating Open-Mic Nights, rocking out to Battle of the Bands and so much more that he will always remember.
Haley Bridgewater, Biology & Religion major
Although Haley Bridgewater knew she wanted to pursue her interest in Biology, she ended up declaring a major in religion by the end of her sophomore year.
“I added on religion which is very different than I ever saw my life path going. I came in knowing I wanted to do biology and I still love biology and want to pursue a career in that, but coming to PLU helped me realize the importance of being well-rounded and not just having the hard sciences. [The majors] might be contradictory to each other but they work pretty well together and they both describe why we’re here, just in very different ways,” Bridgewater said.
During her time at PLU, Bridgewater has loved working as a Residential Assistant.
“Not only is it fulfilling to help residents grow in their time here but also I’ve made my best friends through ResLife,” Bridgewater said.
In addition to being an RA, she enjoys being involved with the behind-the scenes work in the classroom, gaining valuable skills for the future as a biology prepper.
From her very first final at PLU to her last capstone, Bridgewater feels as though she’s had her own intellectual glow-up since making her decision to leave her small hometown of Los Alamos, New Mexico to come to PLU.
“My first year, I didn’t come in knowing anybody. I was nervous about making friends so I was like trying my hardest to do anything I could to make friends, but I think I realized throughout the process that I really just need to do the things that I love and the friends will follow. I definitely found that out like second-half of my first-year and definitely into my sophomore year,” Bridgewater said.
Some of the memories Bridgewater hopes to never let go of relate to all the important connections and relationships she’s built at PLU. Regarding her most impactful moments at PLU, studying away is at the very top of her list.
“I definitely think studying away was one. It definitely has impacted me to decide that I want to see the world more and kind of got bit by that bug a little bit, and so I’m actually going to West Africa next year for the Peace Corps. It definitely inspired me to do that. I realized that I could go into a different culture and be fine. It definitely just like taught me how to connect with people, which is an experience that I think sometimes lacks in the United States. It’s just different,” Bridgewater said.
Other memorable moments for Bridgewater included the time she got a phone call from the Tingelstad Resident Director telling her the news that she got the job as an RA in her sophomore year.
“I was so excited, I’m pretty sure he thought I was very weird because I was screaming. But like those first initial experiences, I met one of my best friends like that first day and I was in her wedding last summer,” Bridgewater said.
After graduation, Bridgewater is looking forward to joining the Peace Corps and leaving for Guinea in West Africa. There, she will be starting three months of intensive training on the language and getting ready to be stationed wherever needed in the country as a high school science teacher. When she comes back from the Corps, Bridgewater plans to go into public health.
As the days come closer towards graduation, Bridgewater wants to use all the lessons learned and meaningful experiences had during her time at PLU to embolden herself to step out of her comfort zone going forward.
“Be open to new opportunities. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am if I wouldn’t of taken chances and I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing next if I didn’t take chances. So I think being open to new opportunities is the biggest thing even though it’s really scary sometimes, just letting it happen.”
