If you’ve been reading my posts since I started blogging, you’re probably aware that Big Sisters-Little Sisters is my favorite Wellesley tradition. I’d like to share with you anecdotes to explain why that is the case.
In addition to my family and other friends, my Wellesley Sisters are the reason my college experience keeps getting better each year. Luckily, I have two Wellesley Big Sisters, Victoria in WASA and Viveka in Slater International, as well as three Wellesley Little Sisters, Marcia in Ethos, Sebiha in Slater International and Timoni in WASA. Additionally, Nour is my Big Sister in TZE.
Viveka graduated last year and is currently pursuing her dreams in Cambodia. Yet, she is always a message away and never fails to respond to me when I ask her something. She has helped me find fellowships and internships. She strongly encouraged me to apply to the Albright Institute and has helped me re-write my resume. Today, she received an acceptance letter from a top graduate school program and I can see her becoming a superstar journalist and scholar in East Asia in the next few years. That being said, I know that she’ll continue to have my back.
Nour is a junior like me. Still, she looks after me as if I were her little baby and I appreciate it. I knew very little about her when I joined TZE, and it’s by a twist of fate that we ended up being Iris Sisters. But, we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well since then and she’s one of my fave people at Wellesley. We like the same kind of music, understand each other’s jokes, come from pretty similar households and have so much fun together. I look forward to finding out where life takes us after Wellesley.
I met Timoni in Nigeria in December 2011, a few weeks before she submitted her application to Wellesley College. Timoni was instantly comfortable around me and asked me lots of questions about my Wellesley experience. I shared with her as much as I could and encouraged her to continue sending me Facebook messages and emails if she had additional questions. We kept in touch. (Not surprisingly – she’s awesome!:)) Timoni got into Wellesley and several other schools. She told me that I am one of the reasons she selected Wellesley; she appreciates that I was so available and willing to help. What’s more, even though I didn’t plan on celebrating my birthday last year, Timoni insisted on making my day special. It was a special birthday.
The story is pretty similar with Marcia. Our meeting was quite random: I was studying for my calculus midterm in the Science Center during the Spring Open Campus weekend when I spotted her sitting down by herself. I knew that she wasn’t a Wellesley student so I started talking to her. When she told me that her family is originally from Ghana, we instantly bonded over “stories from the Motherland.” I gave her a short campus tour, we had dinner together and I introduced her to a few friends. Like Timoni, Marcia had a few schools to choose from but she chose Wellesley. She told me once (she said she’d never say it again) that she chose Wellesley because of the way I welcomed her to Wellesley. We have the craziest banters together and she is someone I expect lots from because I know she can and will do great things.
Sebiha is one of the sweetest, smartest, kindest, most grounded and most driven sophomores I know. She left her native Ethiopia to attend Wellesley, and has seen her family once since arriving here. But, I seldom hear her complain or say that she is homesick. She has taken advantage of every opportunity that was sent her way. She is passionate about making a change and inspires me to continue focusing on The End Goal.
Last but not least, Victoria is a senior at Wellesley. We instantly got along when we met because she is from Nigeria -like Timoni actually- and we constantly share inside jokes about our homeland. Victoria is smart, successful, strong, supportive and a true Christian who encourages me to get back in touch with my faith. I was feeling a little down and overwhelmed with things yesterday when we were hanging out. Though I hadn’t told her everything about what was going on, she’s gotten to know me so well that she sensed something was wrong. She spent all late afternoon/early evening helping me work through it. For moments like those ones, I am grateful for the Big Sisters-Little Sisters tradition. When I wrote my Top Five in November, I forgot to mention that I am thankful for Wellesley because I’ve had the opportunity to meet amazing people that I hope to stay friends with for a very long time.
Pictures: When we concluded the Wintersession portion of our Albright Fellowship, Kate Miller, the Program Director of the Albright Institute, sent us a feedback and reflection questionnaire. We were asked to complete it as soon as possible because the information we provide will help Kate, Joanne Murray and Professor Joe Joyce* prepare for next year’s cohort. However, as you can imagine, some Fellows didn’t fill out their forms. As an incentive to fill out the forms and a reward for some (yay us!) Kate sent out the professional pictures we took in January to the students who filled out their questionnaires – see below.
*Joanne Murray and Professor Joseph Joyce of the Economics department, are the co-founders and executive directors of the Albright Institute.
Iran Focus Group; Maggie, Emma, Nuha, Dhivya and moi, with Secretary Paulson and Wendy Paulson
2013 Albright Institute
The Fellows with Secretary Albright, Secretary Paulson, Wendy Paulson, Cokie Roberts, President Bottomly, Kate, Joanne, Prof. Joyce and Beth
Secretary Albright and Wellesley College President Bottomly with the Iran Focus Group; Maggie, Dhivya, Nuha, Emma and moi
Other news: Happy Valentine’s Day!