College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

2008 Ambassadors Profile
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Why I chose Iowa State: I chose Iowa State because it has great academics, extracurricular activities and a beautiful campus. One of the major things that sealed the deal for me was participating in summer and weekend recruitment programs my junior and senior year of high school. These programs made me aware of how much ISU had to offer. The recruitment activities convinced me to move into a learning community my freshman year where I was able meet a ton of new friends with similar majors and interests.

What I like best about ISU: One of my favorite things about ISU is the amount of opportunities it offers. I regularly attend football and basketball games as a member of Cyclone Alley, I lived in a learning community in the dorms, I have volunteered for numerous community service projects, I have obtained a summer and semester-long internship, and I have met tons of new people.

My ISU activities: I did a six-month internship in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. I really enjoyed learning what it was like to live in the city and work for an engineering firm. I studied abroad over a winter break in Ecuador. During the three weeks that I was there I got to visit all different types of farms, spend New Year's in Las Salinas on the Pacific Ocean, see the Andes, hike through a rainforest reserve and much more. As a freshman, I did undergraduate research with a professor in the Linguistics Department through the honors mentor program. This fall I will work with another member of the Linguistics Department faculty for my honors research project.

My goals after graduating from ISU: I am debating between going straight into teaching English as a second language or Spanish and going to graduate school. If I go to graduate school, it will probably be for Educational Leadership and Policy or Applied Linguistics.

Something I didn't expect I'd do at ISU: I was not expecting to have the opportunity to coach softball as a college student. ISU has a website where businesses and organizations in the community post job openings, and I scored a job as a competitive softball coach for a team in Ames. This experience helped me attain another job where I got to coach a high school team near my hometown.