Life as a Student at USF

I am nineteen years old and I am originally from London, England but moved to Kissimmee, Florida with my family in January 2017. I now live in Tampa, Florida and am a sophomore at the University of South Florida. A fun fact about me is that I flew all the way around the globe this past summer! I went from Orlando, to Los Angeles, to Fiji, to Singapore, to Dubai and then back to Florida.

My USF Story

When I was applying for colleges in Florida, USF was the most communicative, helpful and understanding of all my various documents and residency status. If I emailed them, I received an email back that day. If I called, they always answered. They really sold themselves to me during the admissions process and then the tour I took of the campus was the cherry on top. Originally I started USF as an English – Literary Studies major, after taking a few introductory classes during my Freshman year I realized that this isn’t the major I saw myself doing for the next three years. I didn’t want to be an English teacher as many people thought when they heard me say I was an English major. I started writing for Odyssey at USF and began getting more into journalism. I met with a Mass Communications academic advisor and talking about the opportunities that the School of Mass Communications made me more excited for my academic future than I had ever been.

Something I am most proud of myself so far at USF is that after my first semester I was invited to join two honor societies; Phi Sigma Theta and Sigma Alpha Lambda. Being recognized for my academics as opposed to my actions was not something that I was used to so that was a huge confidence booster.

So far at USF my favorite professor was Brooks Oglesby, he was a graduate student who taught my Public Speaking class in Spring 2018. He was very relatable, understanding and approachable when you needed to ask for help writing your speech, calming your nerves before presenting or giving you extra help on a paper. He understood when we were confused, help us come up with speeches tailored to us and knew based on our personalities what was our best effort and the highest quality speech we could do. It was a welcoming environment in his class and definitely a class I didn’t regret taking!

Outside of Academics

I have been a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority for one year now and currently serve as the correspondent for our national magazine and the New Member Educator assistant. Also, every week I volunteer at Shriner’s Hospital for children here on campus as part of Project Sunshine. We go into the hospital lobby and do activities with the children and their families whilst they are waiting for their appointment. This helped ease the anxious feeling they might have and also gave them a fun activity to do to help the time pass.

I have been a Ballroom and Latin dancer for almost twelve years now, I’ve performed, competed and also taught children and adults of varying abilities. I did this both back in England, as well as Orlando, Florida. I’m hoping to be able to gain my teaching certification, as well as start competing again after graduation.

My favorite book is The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, this book (and film adaptation) brings up the importance of living in the present, rather than focusing on the past. It’s important to know where you have been and how you got to this point in your life, however, if you focus too much on what has happened, then you will never realize and appreciate what is happening right now.

After Graduation?

I am hoping to work as a Ballroom dance teacher at an Arthur Murray dance studio after graduation. As far as where my academics will lead me into my career, I’m still on that journey. I hope to still be writing, perhaps as a freelance writer, but we will see!

Regarding advice for freshman: college takes hard work and a lot of effort, more than you will be used to, but don’t forget to slow down and appreciate these years, you won’t have this same experience again. “Live in the moment, because that’s what matters. What matters is what is right here, right now”.