Interview is edited for length and clarity.
What drew you to the fields of sociology and elementary education?
Like many students, when I first arrived at college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do or be. I took my time finding my way around, and I had a great support system of faculty and friends. I was initially interested in psychology and considered becoming a psychologist or social worker. Quickly, I realized I was more attracted to sociology. I loved how sociology was so broad. It touched every aspect of life.
My Dad encouraged me to also explore other degrees, and that led me to also study elementary education. I did my student teaching in Brookline. My time with those sixth graders was an excellent learning experience. After that, I knew teaching wasn’t for me, but it didn’t feel like a failure. A lot of what I learned for that degree is transferable to the jobs I’ve had in the past and the job I currently hold. Every class and job I had in college helped me better understand what I wanted from school and eventually, in life.
How did you find Simmons during your college search?
I grew up in rural Minnesota, and I wasn’t even sure I was going to go to college. I considered going for a year or two to see what would happen. So, when the time came in my senior year of high school, I started to look at big state schools near where I grew up.
They appealed to me because I was looking for a place where I could feel anonymous and go somewhere and have nobody know who I am or who they think I am. I checked out schools like the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas first, as well as some schools in California, since I had relatives there. When I was out there, I toured Mills College, now a part of Northeastern University, and I found I liked the smaller schools better than the large state schools.
With that in the back of my mind, I visited my sister, who was already going to school in Massachusetts, and I stumbled across Simmons. I really liked that it was in the city and close to my sister.
What were some of your favorite classes? Why?
Two classes in particular come to mind as standout experiences. One was in my freshman year, and it was when Simmons was changing up the curriculum. The standard was to have English 101 and English 102 as general education credits. Instead, I was part of a pilot program for which I took a multicultural class that still covered general education.
Faculty from across the college taught the class. It focused on intense readings, but we also had extensive discussions on the different cultures covered. That course taught me how to have a respectful discourse and to make compelling arguments without being offensive to someone.
The other standout course was an upper sociology class that covered death and dying. Again, it had a multicultural perspective. We went through all of the different traditions surrounding the ways people treat death, confront death, and ritualize it. Both of those classes have stuck with me throughout my life, and that sociology really informs how I walk through life and find ways to support others.
How did attending a women-centered institution affect you?
It had an immeasurable impact. Looking at women’s colleges was something my sister was into at the time, so I just followed her lead and visited many of them. I love how the conversations have changed about how we talk about women and women’s education.
Words like toxic masculinity and patriarchy are in our vocabulary more frequently now. It is so much more common to address those issues; it’s so different from when I was in school. There are times when it doesn’t feel like there is progress, but when you see time from a bird’s eye perspective, there is so much growth. I didn’t have the language to describe what it was like to be a woman who didn’t fit into a box.
Being at a women-centered institution removed the toxic competition that women participate in through patriarchy. Simmons wasn't some Utopia; it just took the toxicity that is so prevalent in society out of the equation. It removed it and prized women the same way that men are prized all the time.
I always felt smart, capable, and strong because of the support I had at school. When I think about who I was the day I walked into Simmons and the day I walked out, I am sure there were the usual intellectual and academic components, but for me it was about the social growth and the confidence I built in that space. I had to figure out who I am and who I wanted to be.
What advice might you give to a new student in sociology?
I see how knowledgeable young people in their twenties are about the world. They have a higher sense of self-awareness than I did at that age. I commend them for that, but I know a piece of advice I would share, based on my experiences, is that it's OK to not know. I used to have this idea that everyone eventually grew up.
I felt this incredible amount of pressure at Simmons, since I was going to school with these incredible women. I felt like they had it together so much more than I did. They had come from bigger cities or prep schools and then, all of a sudden, I was surrounded by people who made me want to grow.
I spent a lot of time, especially in my first two years at Simmons feeling like I was the only one who didn't know what was going on. I wish I could say to my younger self that it's OK to not know and to go into things with an open mind to see how you can learn from experiences and what will work for you.