Sol Chiara Rivas Lopes ’23 came to 圣澳门金沙赌城线上游戏 looking for a way to stand out from the crowd.
如何:
作为澳门金沙线上赌博官网的新毕业生, 索尔会说四种语言, 有来自阿根廷和巴西的国际背景吗, 修读了三个国际研究专业, 政治科学, 和法国, 在海外留学期间为人权而战, 她的目标是获得公共政策硕士学位.
“This is something that's very ingrained in 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s culture,索尔说。 of her versatile journey. “Most people that I know here have double majors at least, and triple majors aren’t uncommon. You're in an environment that really encourages the sort of intellectual pursuit that makes you stand out.”
但在澳门金沙线上赌博官网， 杰出的人 像索尔这样的学生也有机会找到同样有价值的东西:去旅行的地方 适合.
寻找路径
作为一年级学生, 索尔也许知道她想学什么——政治学, 国际研究, 语言, 还有文学——但她不知道该写什么 do 毕业后的那些科目.
“成长, 我一直都有一种“全球性的东西”,“因为我出生在阿根廷, 然后去了巴西, 我是在双重国籍下长大的. 所以我知道我想要做一些国际化和全球化的事情，”索尔说. “I even thought about being pre-law, but I just realized that I wasn't interested in being a lawyer.”
索尔可能会说多种语言——葡萄牙语, 西班牙语, 一边学英语，一边学法语——但她不知道 跟谁说呢 作为一名年轻的国际学生在学校还在等待她的绿卡.
“当我第一次搬到美国的时候.S. [在高中]，我真的很讨厌它，”索尔说. “I felt weirdly ‘in between’ because I didn’t consider myself fully American, and I wasn’t a U.S. 公民. 虽然我现在认为自己主要是拉丁裔, 尤其是巴西人, 那时候我仍然不认为自己是拉丁裔. 我在巴西长大，我只是一个白人女孩. 所以有一段时间, I really struggled because the way I perceived myself all my life was different to the way others perceived me now.”
在澳门金沙线上赌博官网，索尔找到了应对这些挑战的方法. “从我第一次参观校园开始，我就觉得自己在校园里. 澳门金沙线上赌博官网感觉是一个非常热情的社区，”她说.
索尔觉得自己在政治学领域特别受欢迎, 国际研究, 和法国, 哪一种语言成了她的第四种语言. 而前两个油田是索尔第一年计划的一部分, her love of language and literature drove her to look beyond French as a minor and take it on as a third major.
“I’ve tried to take one French class a semester because it’s like a muscle: If you don't train it, 你会失去理智的,索尔说。. “作为一个热爱阅读的人, 爱的书, 我真的很喜欢用法语上文学课. 因为澳门金沙线上赌博官网通过我们的 途径的课程, I was also able to explore other interests without necessarily giving up what I wanted to do primarily.”
Sol (far 正确的) stands with modern 语言 and literatures professor Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, Ph.D.(右)和其他学生在2023年荣誉颁奖典礼后.
多亏了Pathways和文科环境, which encourages interdisciplinary collisions instead of overly focusing on narrow career avenues, 像索尔这样的学生也会发现学术交叉如何帮助他们蓬勃发展. She started homing in on a future career in public policy analysis while developing a diverse set of skills through other subjects.
“因为我喜欢读书，我喜欢分析东西，”索尔说. “Literature is such a big mirror to a lot of political developments and societal developments, 所以它对我的政治学知识非常有帮助. 似乎每个学期我所有课程的主题都能很好地融合在一起. 就像每个科目都给了我一个不同的镜头来观察同一节课.”
实践学习
很快, Sol’s analytical skills were standing out so well that professors were coming to her with opportunities to apply her skills outside the classroom.
澳门金沙线上赌博官网 is known not only for having acclaimed faculty but also for having acclaimed faculty that want to work in partnership with undergraduates. 举个例子，当索尔在一篇论文中拿了高分 彼得·奥布莱恩博士.D., the 政治科学 professor started presenting her with opportunities to advance her 政治科学 career.
索尔笑着说:“我和他上的第一节课，实际上我这学期过得很糟糕。. ”他说, 出了名的 严厉的评分者. 我为他写了这篇论文，然后我收到了一封回信，他说，‘好吧，还不错!’结果是a -. 他还说有一天下课后想找我谈谈，我吓坏了. But it turned out he wanted to nominate me for a Fulb正确的 Diversity Initiative internship that brings an exchange of German students to campus.”
因为索尔出演了这个角色，并一直在她的课堂上担任主角, she noticed something else: O’Brien (and other faculty) kept pushing her towards new opportunities. 在提交了另一篇关于意大利社会资本的优秀论文之后, 例如, O’Brien sent her and other classmates with similarly themed works to present at the Southern Political Science Association Conference.
“我认为这是澳门金沙线上赌博官网经常发生的事情, where students might not have the insight or the knowledge to be able to 找到 these internships or opportunities, 但是教授会看到你的, 意识到你是合适的人选, 连接你,索尔说。. “像奥布莱恩这样的教授, 当他们看到你做得很好, 他们积极建议, ‘嘿, 你们应该分享这个, 你应该曝光它, 你应该把它放在战场上.”
我只想说, 索尔说，她与奥布莱恩建立了密切的工作伙伴关系, 她说为了谁, “我认为我完成了我最好的学术工作.”
这些类型的连接, 澳门金沙线上赌博官网师生之间的关系, 不要在期末成绩公布后才结束. 即使学生跨越国界和海洋，千里之外，他们也不会结束.
After developing some data analysis and quantitative reasoning skills in a research methods class, 索尔决定去斯特拉斯堡留学, 法国, 她还在欧洲委员会完成了实习, 非洲大陆最大和领先的人权组织. “我想去一个对欧洲如此重要的城市, 与布鲁塞尔一道, 因为它有欧洲议会,索尔说。. “我知道在那里我可以看到政治是如何运作的, and having an internship there really solidified public policy analysis as what I wanted to do with my life.”
和, while attending a rally for French President Emmanuel Macron during that study abroad period, Sol thought her 政治科学 professor would get a kick out of seeing his student out in the field.
“我在网上给奥布莱恩留言, ‘嘿, 我们现在正在马克龙的集会上,因为我们在欧洲政治课上谈了很多关于他的事,索尔说。, 笑. “所以这是一件有趣的事情.”
左 索尔在法国总统的集会上快速自拍 马克龙在法国斯特拉斯堡大教堂广场. 正确的 索尔(中)和她的朋友们在埃菲尔铁塔前自拍.
和 sure enough, coming back from study abroad, Sol found more opportunities waiting with O’Brien.
“我一直在通过一项独立研究和他一起做研究, 他非常积极主动地号召学生和他一起工作,索尔说。. “我认为这对你作为一名学生的成功有很大帮助. 教师 really create those opportunities that will make you stand out and develop skills that are helpful, 不仅是为了实习，也是为了考研.”
一生的关系
As she was making strides at 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 towards discovering her professional place in the world, Sol says she also found herself connecting more deeply to her peers and friends outside the bounds of the classroom.
“对于一个不习惯拥有一个拥抱我的社区的人来说, 我在澳门金沙线上赌博官网找到的,索尔说。.
作为一个拉丁人, Sol says she enjoyed building connections through organizations like the 圣澳门金沙赌城线上游戏 Latino Association (TULA). “We have those communities where you can be with people who are similar to you when you need that type of connection,索尔说。, 谁担任该组织的副总裁. “但我们并不是孤立自己. 比如TULA, 我们有很多活动, 他们总是对社区的其他成员开放, 不仅仅是拉丁裔.”
“这是庆祝你的文化最有趣的方式,索尔补充道, “当你们能够集体行动的时候. 不仅是与那些分享它的人，而且是能够与他人分享它.”
Sol (far 正确的) and some of her fellow 圣澳门金沙赌城线上游戏 Latino Association members pose for a photo before performing at Viva las Américas.
对于索尔这样的学生来说，在澳门金沙线上赌博官网找到这种开放性是至关重要的, 谁曾在前面提到的身份和归属问题上挣扎过. 这种开放性也鼓励了与其他组织的联系, allowing students to explore cross-culturally with the same ease as they can hop across academic disciplines.
“很多澳门金沙线上赌博官网的学生都去参加排灯节活动, 这真的很有趣, 或者胡里节的色彩,索尔说。. “在澳门金沙线上赌博官网，我认为每个人不仅能够 找到 自己的空间还要来 选择 他们自己的空间. 你被邀请并鼓励参加各种各样的活动. 这真的很有意义，不仅在学术上，而且对个人来说都是如此。”
通过这一系列的联系, Sol says she finally found something to use her four 语言 for that’s just as important as fighting for international human 正确的s or solving diplomatic crises: speaking them with friends.
“My best friend 正确的 now, she's from Colombia, and I met her while I was studying abroad,索尔说。. “So, we speak a lot in 西班牙语, and there are very few friendships that I do get to have in 西班牙语. 正因为如此，我们之间的联系更深了.”
增长的未来
Sol’s now headed to a Master of Public Policy program at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. 并且精通四门语言, 国际实习, 还有多篇来之不易的王牌研究论文, 索尔说她已经准备好为她未来的职业生涯迈出下一步.
不管她去哪，她都会知道的 她属于.
“澳门金沙线上赌博官网帮助我开拓了自己的空间，我在美国的位置.S. 整个社会，”索尔说. “澳门金沙线上赌博官网的环境确实促进了学术发展, 个人成长, 以及职业发展，这是澳门金沙线上赌博官网特有的,索尔说。. “It's kind of this ‘perfect mixture’ and ‘perfect condition’ of things that allowed me to grow in a way that I don't think I would've elsewhere.”
索尔的空间是什么样的?
“Now that I’ve graduated, I actually wouldn’t say I'm an international student anymore,” she says. “我是一个有国际背景的人.”
