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The biggest thing that I love about RIT
is how it's helped me grow
since my freshman year.
In my time here, I've joined different clubs,
organizations.
I've made a ton of friends.
I've made so many connections here.
And everything about RIT
has helped me grow as a person, in terms
of academics, socially,
and just being a better person.
Something that I love about RIT
is the community feel that I get,
whether it's in my classroom, or just
part of the clubs and organizations
that I participate in.
The school spirit - I love going to hockey games.
I'm on a club hockey team myself.
So there's always a lot of energy surrounding
sports, and athletics, and stuff like that.
The culture - everyone has a place to fit in.
And you can always find a place where you're
going to have a great time
and nerd out about different things.
There's people from all over the place here.
And it's really cool to see where everyone
comes from and their own stories.
I actually felt welcomed coming on campus.
And I was introduced to a bunch of people that
made me feel at home.
And I quickly found resources
and opportunities here that helped me
in my RIT career.
What I really love about RIT
is how inclusive the community is here.
I really like how people
from different communities,
different backgrounds,
different sexual orientations, different races
can all come together and really enjoy the RIT
experience.
I am in Delta Sigma Pi, which
is a professional business fraternity.
American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Physician Assistants Student Association.
Society of Software Engineers.
Lab Support Tech, Bio Prep.
Latin American Student Association.
Women in Business.
BACC, the Black Awareness Coordinating Committee.
Study Abroad Office.
Caribbean Student Association.
Club hockey, intramural hockey.
Intramural Frisbee team.
Ski Club, Rock Climbing Club.
Graphic designer for the
AALANA Collegiate Association.
Habitat for Humanity.
An ambassador for RIT.
For my first two years here at RIT,
I was part of the RIT men's and women's
swimming diving team.
And I really loved that experience.
It was one of the reasons
that I came to RIT, actually.
I'm a member of Sigma Chi
fraternity on campus.
That is one of the biggest things at RIT
that I thought was the best decision
that I've made.
It's helped me grow.
It's helped me make connections.
And I've met some of the best friends I've
had here, and some of the people
that I'll know for the rest of my life.
I am actually the current president of Unity House,
which is a special interest house here
on campus.
We have seven of them.
With Unity House, it's a home away from home
for AALANA students on campus.
AALANA stands
for African, Latin, Asian, and Native American
students.
So I'm in the club hockey team.
So we'll practice three days a week.
And then we'll play other schools
and universities on the weekends.
So that's pretty cool.
I get to travel a little bit, still.
I've gone out to Michigan.
We've gone to Navy.
I'm involved in RIT softball team.
And coming into college,
that gave me a great place to start out
with friends.
My professor put me in contact with the Gospel
Ensemble.
And it's been really fun getting to know
the history behind it, as well as getting back
to the gospel portion of that, which
was a big portion of my life.
So at the Student Life Center,
there's a ton of stuff to do.
It's attached to our field house,
so if you want to utilize the track,
the tennis courts, we have boxing rooms,
basketball courts.
You can rent out just about any equipment you
might need from the cage, which is down
below the Student Life Center.
Any activities you're into, whether it's
for different wellness classes,
like golf or Zumba.
Racquetball has been something that I've been
able to try at RIT.
They also have their big swimming area, called
the Judson Aquatic Center.
Being part of the varsity athlete program,
you got to travel and see
all the different pools around the area,
and ours is, by far, the best.
They keep it incredibly clean and beautiful.
The hours are great, honestly, whether you're
waking up early, or you have later classes,
you have to go later at night.
There's really a lot of things to do.
And it's great to just always get out
of the homework zone sometimes.
So my freshman year here, I lived in a quad.
And I met all of my roommates
on the Facebook group, the Accepted Student
Facebook group.
I hung out with them a ton.
We made a lot of great memories my freshman year.
And then, actually, one of those
roommates, I still live with,
four and a half years later.
My freshman year, I was in Kate Gleason Hall.
It was kind of nice.
I had air conditioning.
It's not hot here for long in Rochester,
but it was nice when it was hot.
And then second year, I lived in University
Commons, which is the on-campus apartments
that we have.
And those were very nice.
They had kitchen, laundry in all the units.
So that was really nice.
I got to live with some of my friends there.
I've lived in Unity House for my first two years.
So we're always usually up in the lounge,
or in each other's rooms, listening to music,
doing work.
So my first semester, I moved onto Unity
House's floor.
So that house made me feel really welcomed.
And it was similar to what I grew up with,
the kind of environment and people
that were there.
It's pretty diverse.
But it became a family.
So I appreciated living in that housing.
So I've lived off-campus, just down the road
from RIT, in one of our apartment complexes.
And it's really easy to go back and forth
from campus,
and then still be involved with the RIT
community with people outside of school
and have that experience.
So there are a lot of housing options.
And there's a lot of accessibility to it
as well.
There's just a lot of different options
for you to eat.
So whether you're going to Gracie's, which is
the first-year dining hall,
or you're going across campus to Global Village.
My freshman year, my friends, we had all gone
to Gracie's pretty much every night
for dinner.
And it became like our family dinner.
So that was really cool to have that,
because it really brought us all together
and made us feel like we were at home at RIT.
So definitely the place to go is definitely
Ritz Sports Zone.
They have fantastic food.
I love the amount of options that they have,
the panini bar, the sandwich bar.
I love the pasta base, the calzones,
and The Grill, of course.
Whether you're gluten free,
you have allergies,
anything like that, there's always options.
Salsarita's, I get burrito bowls there
all the time.
And also Brick City,
they have a lot of rotating food there.
So I usually get the visiting chef.
So we'll have different cuisines come
in, like Indian food, Thai food.
We have Mexican food sometimes.
And a couple of different barbecues come in.
You can go to the corner store, which
is under NRH.
The global market, that's where you can find
food options from around the world.
My favorite spot on campus to get food is
definitely Ben and Jerry's.
I'm a big ice-cream person.
There's just so many different options
to choose from as well, so you'll always find
something you like.
There are definitely a ton of places
that you can meet people to do homework
or just do whatever on campus.
One of my favorite spots to hang out at
is Global Village, because they have really
nice outdoor seating.
And when it's really nice weather
in Rochester, you can hang outside
with your friends, in the sun,
next to the fountains.
There's a lot of people hanging out
in the quads.
The Greek lawn, I hung out there a lot
my freshman year.
So I'm a big outdoors person, so I really like
hammocking.
There's a lot of different places
to hammock across campus.
I personally tend to hang out more
in the MOSAIC.
I like to spend a lot of time in the library.
I'll do the private study rooms,
you can reserve,
and then you have your own space.
One of my favorite places is definitely
the Bruce and Norah James Atrium.
It's this really large space inside of Gosnell Hall.
It's just a really great space
to get a lot of work done.
I mean, I can't say enough good things
about the time I've had here.
I've just met a ton of great people,
and had the opportunity to discover more about
myself, and really just enjoy my time here.
Choose a place where you know
is going to feel like your second home
and you can see yourself there, succeeding
throughout the rest of your four or five years.
This was the best time of my life.
My five years here have made me
such a different person,
and made me really happy, and I definitely
think you'll have a great time at RIT.
Don't be afraid to go out and find people,
find friends, find people that you would want
to hang out with, because I've done that,
and I feel like it's made my college
experience so much better.
Try new things when you're here.
I got to try a lot of different things.
And some things, I've really enjoyed,
some things I haven't had as much enjoyment with
But it was really good to get that experience
and have those opportunities here at RIT.
Take it at your own pace.
I know coming into college
can definitely be overwhelming.
But know that there are resources here
and support here, especially
within your program.
My faculty advisor and my academic advisor
have been great with helping me transition.
And there's definitely a lot of upperclassmen
within your programs that can help you.
And that's basically what helped me get
to where I am now.
I have friends that I can lean on for support.
Because we're all going through it together.
And I think not being afraid to speak
up and reach out
is the biggest thing I've learned being here.
Because you're your biggest advocate.
I'd say if you're looking for an environment
that is incredibly inclusive,
it's just a bunch of students who really want
to learn about what they have an interest
and passion for, then this is definitely
the place for you.
I've gained so much during my time here at RIT,
and I definitely recommend it for you guys.
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