Student

I came from a high school that emphasized writing, and already intended to minor in creative writing, so I knew long before Stanford that writing was something I loved. After switching my PWR assignment to autumn quarter, so I’d be prepared for writing here early on, I was assigned to ‘The Rhetoric of Gender and Sexuality in Pop Culture’—a subject far outside my major, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I looked forward to college so I could be in a competitive environment and be challenged on a daily basis. Stanford was everything I wished for and it was entirely overwhelming. During my four years as a varsity student-athlete, I believe I encountered nearly every challenge that accompanies the arduous task of balancing both premier academics and athletics. But if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

“Hi! I’m Amber, and I’m a dancer. I also love to draw and write poetry.” In ITALIC, everybody has their own thing, their own niche in the arts world where their passion resides. Walking into ITALIC the first day, I was blown away by the sheer scope of the arts - our 6 professors each introduced their own explorations of the question “What is Art?” in their own preferred medium by showing photographs, clips of dances, or playing music.

Much to the chagrin of those around me, when I found out that I was accepted into the Immersion in the Arts: Living in Culture program (ITALIC), I couldn’t stop gushing to anyone who would listen – my parents, my brother, my grandma, my friends, my friends’ mothers – that I was going to be living and learning with 44 other students in a yearlong arts program. Thereafter, I began to map out my Stanford career with fervor, creating Excel sheets and four year plans. However, my excitement quickly turned into worry.

As I exited the ITALIC Lecture Theater (a bright, acoustic space which just so happened to be mere steps from my dorm room) for the first time, I remember feeling an absolute sense of bewilderment. For the first day, each ITALIC professor and section leader had taken the stage to discuss a piece of art that was particularly meaningful to them and how it helped them answer the question: “What is art?” From comics and classic musicals to quartets and cognition, each piece seemed to stand for a different but no less important artistic interpretation and definition.

In high school, middle school, and elementary school, I was a swimmer.  Obviously I was more than an athlete, but swimming was a big part of who I was.  It was how many others defined me, and in truth, it was a large part of how I defined myself.  I thought long and hard about swimming in college at a varsity level and began the recruiting process at a few NCAA Division I schools.  During my junior year of high school, however, I started questioning whether to pursue swimming in college.

While I know I’m supposed to be picking one class that really stood out to me, I can’t because I didn’t have a favorite class.  I had three favorite classes, and they were all the same type; they were Intro Sems.  Introductory Seminars, lovingly called Intro Sems, are small, typically all-freshman classes taught by professors who are deeply interested in their specific course subject.  I took three Intro Sems my freshman year, one each quarter, and they were all outstanding.  In the fall, I enrolled in an Intro Sem about World War One.

I got accepted to Stanford; therefore, I went to Stanford.  Doesn’t sound like much of a page-turner, does it?  But as I thought more about it, I decided that my story is more than the list of schools I applied to and more than my acceptance to the best university in the country.  Though my story does start with that acceptance.

As my first year ends, I look back and appreciate all of the support that has been given to me throughout this year. From stressing out in my AAD Melissa’s office to talking for hours about some event that just happened in Warren’s (the LSP director’s) office, to just having lunch and talking about my first year experience with Anthony (my admissions officer), I could not be more thankful that these people had been there to guide me throughout my first year.

SLE - Structured Liberal Education: A residential program that takes place in East Florence Moore Hall worth 8 units. When I drove onto campus that was basically all I knew about SLE, that and that we read a lot of books. I hadn’t attended the information session during Admit Weekend and had very minimal information on what it really was. Had I known how intense it was going to be, or how time consuming it really was, I would have eased up on my unit count fall quarter.