extracurriculars

Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! (or, How I Discovered the Best Department on Campus)

September 16, 2024
Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! (or, How I Discovered the Best Department on Campus)

When I was a little kid, I loved dinosaurs.

When I got to be a little bit older, I started a rock collection.

When I was in high school, I would say that my dream job was to go on expeditions to Antarctica to drill ice cores.

I’d dreamed my whole life of becoming a geoscientist, but I hadn’t had much exposure to the earth sciences during my education, so I didn’t really know that a career in them was possible.

All I...

How Club Sports Helped Me Love Swimming Again

August 30, 2024
How Club Sports Helped Me Love Swimming Again

Swimming has been my everything for most of my life. I was floating in the water before I could walk, and swimming competitively since I was nine years old. However, by the time I started college I felt burnt out and was not sure if I saw a future in swimming. My life and schedule had been dictated by the sport for so long that I had forgotten what it was like to sleep in on the weekends and not be sore all the time. I had been pushing myself to the limit in search of success only to feel underwhelmed by the...

A Semester in Washington, D.C.

December 23, 2022

As I stood inside the Capitol Rotunda, offering a tour to a group of constituents, suddenly a huddle of U.S. Senators emerged from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and quickly breezed past me to make their way to the Senate floor. As they traveled past me, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to work inside our nation’s capitol and intern for the U.S. Congress. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would never have been possible without my involvement in the University of California, Washington D.C. (UCDC) program. ...

Dancing My (Blue & Gold) Heart Out

December 1, 2023

Prior to coming to UC Berkeley, I danced throughout my childhood. Beginning when I was eight years old, I used to dance in an after-school program with the YMCA. I was a hip-hop dancer until I was 13 when I entered middle school. I took a break from dancing for two years, then came back to it when I was in high school. My school offered Mexican folklórico dance classes as electives and I took it for fun. I ended up sticking with it all through high school as it was a very significant part of my cultural identity. Now in college, I dance for group on campus and through our school’s...

Finding My Community at Cal

November 3, 2023

Coming into Cal, I didn’t really know what to expect. I had never seen the campus until I moved into my dorm at Clark Kerr for my first year. I was the only one in my graduating class from high school to come to Cal. So, you’d think the odds were stacked against me, right? At first, I thought so, too. I didn’t know if I would necessarily fit into any group on campus. However, I started discovering myself, who I wanted to be in this world, and what I wanted to do with my time at Cal. Thus, I found my small community within this large university with over 45,000 students. You’re...

Day in the Life of an English Major

November 17, 2023

All throughout high school (...and middle school) I would watch countless amounts of “Day in the Life of a…” videos. Heading into my college years, I especially loved to see videos about college students and people who were studying what I wanted to study. Rather than film a video, I’m going to be sharing my day in the life as a Berkeley English major!

From a recent Friday (08/27/23) in the Fall 2023 Semester:

8:30-9:00 am – Waking up! Honestly, sometimes the hardest part of my day. But it is Friday!

9:30 am – Grabbing a...

How I founded an Organization at UC Berkeley

December 7, 2021

Ever imagine building your own organization on a prestigious campus like UC Berkeley? Attending a school with 40,000 students is a great opportunity to start your own project or business. Not only is there a wide client base, but you also have access to a large audience and a ton of experimental room as well as opportunities for learning and growth.

During my junior year of high school, I told myself that I wanted to concentrate all my energy into making a positive impact in these three fields: medicine/healthcare, education, and business. Thus, as a current pre-...

Socializing Tips from a Campus Ambassador (and Journalism Minor!)

July 24, 2024
Socializing Tips from a Campus Ambassador (and Journalism Minor!)

Although I enjoy talking to people, it doesn’t come naturally. To be honest, I’m not the most sociable person in the room. That said, I can articulate the skills I’ve acquired because I’ve had to learn them myself. As a campus ambassador, I get paid to talk to people, and as a journalism minor, I’m required to for my grades. Many tips I’ve gleaned are from books and websites, but I’ve also picked up several just by observing how others socialize. When I’m working, I’ll note how friendly visitors strike up...

Two Left Feet, One Big Leap: Learning Dance and Embracing Failure at Cal

July 22, 2024

This is a story about a girl who went from sporting a lifelong aversion to dance, to participating in UC Berkeley’s oldest student-run dance organization for over half of her undergraduate career.

One thing about me? I’ve always loved risk aversion. It makes life feel safe, somewhat predictable, and within my control. I’ve mostly lived my life by assessing my personal strengths and playing into them, minimizing the level of risk in every decision I make.

Dance had never been my strength. Choreography rarely stuck in my head. I felt awkward moving my long limbs around and...

What I Read: For School vs For Fun (as an English major)

April 8, 2024

I love to read.

I loved reading when I was growing up, but it all stopped when I got to high school. In high school, reading became more of a chore than anything else really and that just sucked all the fun and joy out of it. Although during the covid years when we were all stuck indoors, I started reading again to pass the time and it reignited my love for it.

When I started college, I was originally a psychology major, but after that first year, I changed my major to English, when I realized psychology wasn’t for me.

So...