As I enter my last few weeks as a Northwestern Undergraduate student I have taken some time to reflect over the past four years and how my experience at Northwestern has changed me. When I stepped foot on campus as a first year student, emboldened by high school experiences I felt that I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how to achieve it. As fall quarter progressed I realized that my original plan of becoming a Biology major was not really what I wanted to do. This is quite a humbling experience and one that I was not experiencing alone. As difficult as it may feel to abandon previous plans, this is a feeling that many college students experience. College is the time to discover your interests and passions and that may involve discovering what you are not interested in along the way. I challenged myself to take classes that I had previously overlooked and to engage with new subjects. Through the distribution requirements I had to take as a Weinberg student, I began to take History classes and discovered that I had a strong interest in studying Middle Eastern History. More than just changing my academic concentration, Northwestern has opened my eyes to a variety of different career paths and opportunities that I had previously been unaware of. Northwestern is an academically challenging institution and after discovering my newfound passion, I found I had to develop study skills to match. Through the challenges that Northwestern has thrown my way, I have learned how to prioritize and schedule my time to take advantage of all the great opportunities that you have as a Northwestern student.

While my academic growth was certainly a big part of my Northwestern experience, my time here has helped me grow on a personal level as well. Northwestern encourages collaboration and with the great sense of community that is on campus, you find yourself wanting to work in group settings and always thinking of new ways to help your team, whether that team is your class, an extracurricular group or the larger Northwestern community. In a few weeks I will walk across the graduation stage, proudly wearing Northwestern purple, and will end my time as an undergraduate student, but I will be taking my Northwestern experience and memories with me.

–Hannah Kupsky

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