What were your initial thoughts when you came to York? How would you describe the person you were when you first came to York? 

I thought it was really different. I was at a juco (junior college) in Iowa and jucos have a really different vibe. It actually seemed like there was a community here and just felt kind of like a special campus. I would say I was quite nervous when I first came to York. I'm not very good at change and coming to a new state and school didn’t help. I wasn’t entirely sure how transferring to York was going to go. My juco was a really interesting experience for me. Coming to York, I was hoping for something different but I didn’t want to have high expectations on what could happen and end up disappointed. But it ended up being better than I'd even thought it would.

 

What is your favorite spot to be on campus and why? 

I like the swings. It’s nice to be able to sit and enjoy the weather during the spring and early autumn, being able to sit and chat while you see everyone walking around on campus.

 

What were you involved in during your time at YU? 

I am a part of the softball team. I’m also a member of Theta Psi.

 

What was the best class that you took here on campus?

I really enjoyed Women in the Bible with Dr. Best. That was an eye-opening class and really changed my perspective on the way that women are lifted up and the radicalness of how women are portrayed in the Bible and how Jesus sees women. I did a whole paper on feminism through archaeology and how gender roles can be seen through archaeology. That was really fascinating.

 

You also went on the Bible trip to Turkey and Greece. What was it like seeing all of the physical landmarks that you read about in the Bible? 

It was awesome because it's like archaeology is really interesting to me. I would never want to be an archaeologist because I just want to know what they found out. But the trip almost brought up more questions than it answered them. We would visit a major historical landmark and would feel like I need to go learn even more now. We saw these artifacts in Corinth called anatomical terracottas. And now I’m writing a paper on 1 Corinthians 12 about the metaphor of the body because I saw these archaeological things in Corinth and decided that I wanted to learn more and dive deeper into these pieces of biblical history.

 

What were the biggest takeaways that you got from YU? 

Obviously friendships. And I think I’ve gained the confidence to go into life with the skills to kind of adapt to situations. Life skills that aren't taught explicitly but through the Bible classes and how the professors here care for the students. It’s how they carry themselves through their life experiences, by learning through them and getting the chance to grow and learn while being here.

 

What have you discovered is your purpose and mission after your time at York? And how did you realize what those were to you? 

Well, I'm still trying to work out what I want to do with my life. But I really like making people's lives easier by doing the little things that means that they are able to do their job better. By doing all kinds of acts of service and loving people well. I don't want people to leave a space knowing that there was more that I could’ve done to help. I want people to know that they can count on me to help them if they need it. To feel like they have someone to talk to and someone that loves them. I just want to serve where I can.

 

What are your plans after you graduate? 

I think I’m going back home to Australia to be with my family and settle down close to home but I don’t have all of my plans figured out just yet.

 

 

If you could talk to the version of yourself visiting campus for the first time, what would you say?

Everything's not as scary as you make it out to be. Change is a good thing. Be confident and everything will work out. And just embrace it. It'll be okay. You don't have to think through every little thing for it to be okay.

 

What is the legacy that you hope to leave behind here at YU?

I want people to remember the kindness that I try to show everyday. To remember that I’m a kind person who wanted to make sure that everyone was heard, seen, and loved.