Spotlight Series: Katherine
Hi everyone!
My name is Katherine, I'm a 4th year student majoring in Communication Studies with two minors in History and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies. My major is housed in the College of Arts, Media and Design and my two minors are in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. I'm originally from just outside of Chicago but I love, love, love living in Boston and attending Northeastern.
I came into Northeastern as an Undeclared student with no clue of what I was doing, so I promised myself I would take advantage of as many opportunities as possible to figure out what I wanted to study. I actually lived in the Undeclared LLC called Journeys my freshman year - all of my best friends to this day are people I lived with in that LLC. I decided on Communications after taking an Intro to Communication Studies course (and realized I was always excited to go to that class on Friday afternoons). The History minor came after reflecting on my favorite courses I took in high school, and the WGSS minor came after attending a social/reproductive justice conference called CLPP with a student group I was involved in at the end of my freshman year.
Speaking of clubs.... I've been involved in my fair share of them. I honestly don't know a single person here who isn't involved in a club that they are passionate about. After trying out different ones that focused on things like writing, public relations, event planning, music, feminism and more, I finally committed to three that I love and serve on the E-Boards of. NU SHARE (Sexual Health, Advocacy, Resource and Education), which is a Planned Parenthood-sponsored group focusing on sex ed on campus; NU SARC (Sexual Assault Response Coalition), which is a group of students committed to making resources on campus more survivor-friendly; and of course, Husky Ambassadors, where I'm a tour guide along with Colette, and a Husky Development Mentor helping to train and evaluate other tour guides. I'm also an RA (Resident Assistant) and while it's a tough job, I really love working with my staff and residents.
In my time here, I've also done: Service-learning - volunteering at 826 Boston to help Boston Public School students with their reading and creative writing skillsStudy abroad - spent an incredible semester in Florence, Italy where I literally ate gelato and pasta every single day and traveled to 14 countries in 5 months. 3 co-ops - my first one was in the Office of New Student Orientation and Parent Programs, doing event planning for Northeastern, including the giant Summer Orientation sessions for all incoming freshmen. My second co-op was at a public relations agency, Version 2.0 Communications, where I worked mostly with tech startups and marketing for the agency itself. And I'm currently on my third co-op doing Corporate Communications for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. I love my current job and it's made me realize that I want to continue working either in the biotech or public health field, making a difference in the quality of peoples' lives. I've tried to have vastly different experiences within the realm of Communications co-ops and have learned so much from all three, including how to be a functioning adult working a 9-5, which is a priceless lesson.
I know this is a crazy exciting and scary time as you're finalizing your decision about what school you'll attend. If anything I said above peaked your interest, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would honestly be thrilled to answer your questions because I'm weird like that. Before googling "Boston schools" my junior year of high school, I had never heard of Northeastern, so it was really kind of a happy accident that I ended up here. I am so grateful I stumbled my way to Northeastern, which has turned out to be the perfect school for me.