Kasey Shultz

Boston University Kilachand Honors College Class of 2017

Sociocultural Anthropology Major, Spanish and African Studies Minor

Where were you, where are you now, where do you want to be in the future?

I came from Central Washington. I live in Seattle now. I went to school in the Cascade mountains in Washington. It’s an old mining town that got turned into a Lutheran Retreat Center. My parents are on staff there so I went to school there. I went to school with 11 other kids and there was a graduating class of two. It was a big change coming here, but it worked out well I think. I started out undeclared and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study but I eventually got into the anthropology department. Right now I am just in this weird limbo space between college and graduation. Next year I will be back in Seattle and I will be working with the Northwest Immigrant Rights project as the Bilingual Immigrant Youth Advocate so working with immigrant youth and helping them with legal things.

What drives you? What is your greatest passion?

One thing that I am really passionate about is music. I play the viola and I sing here at the Marsh Chapel choir. The choirs engage in a really high level of music-making which has been amazing. I also appreciated because it was music in like a faith-based context and that’s another thing that’s really important to me.

What is something that should be taught in school that isn't already?

I don’t know how you can teach it but I think it’s a lot of times(I do this too) we don’t listen to people. If we are in a conversation or debate and we are talking to other people, we might kind of listen to what they are saying but we are kind of thinking about what we want to say next or we are distracted by the things. I think meaningful listening is something that the political arena is really lacking right now. Being able to listen and understand where the other person is coming from and you don’t have to agree with what they are saying but like recognize the validity of what they are saying.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

I think I second guess myself a lot. I have to make a very conscious effort to put myself out there. It’s really easy for me to retreat into my room or not go out on a Friday night with friends. So I think to be a little more out there but without making as much of an effort to do it because it can be draining.

What is your greatest struggle right now?

I think trying to figure out how to(it’s so cliché) but like actually make an impact in the world. I am very excited about what I will be doing next year but it’s difficult to kind of think about moving beyond that year like what I want to do or It’s hard to look at many of the problems in the world that I see and then figure out like what I can do to help to address those problems so that’s something I’ve been grappling with.

If you could give yourself advice from 10yrs ago, what would you give?

Ten years ago I was twelve. I think to make more of an effort to hang on to connections that I made with people because I think a lot of times there’s been a lot of transitions in my life where I would say goodbye to people and wouldn’t see them for a while and I did end up reconnecting with them a lot of times but usually it’s because they’ve reached out to me so I think just making more of an effort to keep in contact with people who were important to me.

If you can pick a hobby and do it for living, what would you do?

Being able to travel and write. I really enjoy writing but also there are so many places I want to go for an extended period of time to get a feel of the place.

What were you scared of when coming to college, if anything?

Definitely a big move like 3000 miles away from home. I am also the oldest so I don’t have any older siblings who have done it before so It’s kind of like stepping into a new territory. It worked out well though.

If you could give one piece of advice to a group of people, what would you give?

I think to be more understanding of each other or lenient towards each other of other people and of yourself. I think it’s really easy to hold ourselves to impossibly high standards but also to be quick to judge other people or like compare ourselves to other people. Just like getting really caught up in a day to day things. I think we need to let more things go and just give people second chances or be more understanding. We all have crappy days but a lot of times we can’t be too hard on other people for their mistakes.

What do you love about CAS?

Luluah Mustafah

Senior Arabic Lecturer

Is Arabic a critical language you think all students should have some exposure too?

You know I think it is a critical language in the way that can solve so many issues between the conflicts that are happening in the media and in the political issues too. So I think learning the language, part of which is the culture will help solve so many issues, but I am not sure if all of the students will take Arabic.

Where were you, where are you now, and where do you want to be in the future?

Oh, that’s a tough one. You know honestly I am just a normal person who is working super hard to support my family, my kids, and the very tough thing that I am going through is like I am living alone in here, I am doing so many things over my shoulders so I feel like that’s it. I am not getting a taste of life because of so many things going on in my life. I have two kids who I worry about a lot. My son, he is going to be 17 May, and my daughter, she is 14. Both are teenagers. They are getting older, and their problems are becoming bigger because I go back to the culture because we are raising them at home with a different culture and they go outside and it is the opposite. They they are always wondering, “why just us, why just us, why can we not do this, why can we not do that?” You know, that’s a big thing. Now, where I want to be in the future, you know, I always had a dream to continue my education but I did not have the chance because of so many things going on. You know, I am a computer science major, so my dream was to work in a company; I did not want to teach at all. You know, but now I love my job, and I love my students, but I always say, “oh my god, why didn’t I go to that field and pursue my education.” It always comes back to me, why didn’t I do what I wanted to do before. As I told you before though, that doesn’t mean that I don’t like what I am doing now. I love it, I love my job, so maybe after my kids are in college or after they graduate maybe I can do something for myself. 

I lived before, you know, in Kansas for 6 months, and I hated it. I didn’t feel like it was America at all. Here (in Boston) people are more friendly, the state is really nice. I feel like we have a big community as well here, so it feels like I have [a] family. When you leave your family, you need somebody else to fill up your social life. There, in Kansas, it’s just you and yourself and if you need anything it’s really far away and people there are not friendly too. It was shocking, like imagine somebody coming from a place where social life is extremely important to a place where nobody even says hi. 

Before Kansas, I was in Palestine. It was in December 1999. I just got married. When my husband had just finished high school, he is a Palestinian too, he grew up there until he finished high school. When he was done with high school, he came (to the States) to finish his undergraduate (degree) here. So when he finished school, he didn’t go back, he got a job, and he stayed here. He came back, and I came with him. Establishing my life, honestly, this is how I established my life. 

Can you give me an example of a cultural norm at home that is completely the opposite of what your kids experience outside of home?

One thing, let’s say, the go to a sleepover, we don’t do sleepovers. They like their friends. I don’t mind their friends, I like all of them, but part of our culture and our religion is that we do not do sleepovers. So, these things like maybe they go to parties late at night or stuff like this, we do not do that. So they feel that we as a family are strict and they keep complaining, “if you don’t us to be ourselves here then why are we living here?”

What is a struggle you have overcome in life?

As I told you, raising kids in an environment that is completely different from your culture is very difficult. That is one thing. The other struggle I have in my life is the commute. Three hours. The commute is killing me. The third thing, you know, because honestly, you don’t have a family around you, so you don’t get help from anyone. So everything you have to do, you have to do it by yourself. So after awhile, your body cannot handle what you used to do before when you were younger. So that’s why you feel you are overwhelmed all the time. And also don’t forget that you have family back home, you keep thinking about them also. My mom has two brothers and two sisters. My sister came (to visit) three times, the one in Dubai, but the one in Palestine, no.

What is one of your most treasured memories?

I have more than one. When I graduated from college, that was the best moment of my life. When I had my kids, also that was a really pleasant moment in my life, and when I got my job at BU I was so excited too.

What are you most proud of in life?

In our culture, especially at the time when I lived there, now it has been almost 18 years since I left the country, women don’t work. My mom was an odd woman for the time because she was working at that time, 30 years ago. My dad was also a principal for a high school, so both of them were really successful. Back home, they have a special limited budget for boys, they save this for boys to go to continue their education. Girls, they don’t go continue their education. That was back when I was growing up, but my parents didn’t really do that. They gave us a chance, there were six of us, three girls and three boys, it was a big family. We all were given the chance to go and finish our education because of the support of my mom and my dad. I really love them because of what they did. They didn’t say, “she’s a girl, and she’s not supposed to go and finish her education. No. We are the same, equal.” So, another thing that I was proud of was that I was one of a few of Arab women that I know who are working, they don’t work. They are just sitting at home. I know they might be living a more relaxing life than me, I am so stressed out, but I feel that I accomplished something in a country that even when I came here, I wasn’t able to say, “hi, how are you?” You know, it’s a lot to accomplish. It’s not like I’m not bragging about it, but even when I was back home, if I were there, maybe I did more, I don’t know, but I feel the struggle that I went through when I came here you know, the differences in cultures, especially because I wear a scarf, and the language itself, it’s a lot. Imagine you want to go to an Arab country and start your life there. Imagine how many struggles you are going to go through. When I went to do my driving license it was like, I arrived at the end of December, and at the beginning of April I had my driver’s license, and I took the exam, the written exam, I passed the first time. But because I used to know how to read, I used to understand a lot of things, but it was the writing and the speaking that was difficult. I could read it easily, but maybe I didn’t understand all of the vocabulary of course, but I handled it because I studied the book. You know, I think part of it was the way we were raised in my family: you have to be independent. So when I was with my family, which is weird in our culture, I go and buy everything for my family. I did so much stuff for my family. So when I came here, and whenever I needed something, my husband has to do it, my husband has to do it, that was killing me. No, I need to learn to do it, and I think I was really tough on myself because of the way that I grew up: I have to be independent. I think that’s what pushed me all the time: I have to pass this, I have to do this. But you know also, the culture, they don’t ask girls to go work, to support their families, they don’t pressure them. Now it’s different, I’m talking about that time, now because life is so expensive they have to do it. They don’t have a choice. But in general, in Palestine, because we live like through a difficult life, I think that teaches us to always try and not to give up, really work hard, and always see that if you are here today, you cannot stop. That is how they taught us. That’s why now, with like my kids, I feel bad because I keep pressuring them. It’s not because I want too much pressure on them, but because that’s how I raised them. Why are they not doing it, which I know is wrong. I know it’s wrong, it’s a different environment and generation and all of that, but I feel that okay, if you have all of these resources, why are you not good. That’s what I keep telling them. It doesn’t make sense to me if you have an opportunity and you don’t take it. Like here at BU, whenever they offer me something, I would say yes. Even though I’m overwhelmed, I say, “my God, it’s an opportunity coming to me. Why would I say no to it.” But it reaches a point where you get so tired sometimes if you’re like, “no that’s it, I have to stop doing that.” That’s what I usually do, but I feel that you reach a certain point, and a certain age that, I don’t know, you have to come down. You have to live your life too.

How do you want to be remembered?

I just want to be remembered that I was honest in my work and humble. That’s it.

What’s your favorite part about BU?

Honestly I am so lucky to have the colleagues that I have here, especially the head of the Arabic program now. Her name is Professor Giselle Khoury. She helped me a lot, a lot. I can’t really thank her enough. So I’m really lucky to have, not just her, there are also others, they are super super nice to me. They are so helpful. Honestly, without their support, I wouldn’t survive the other responsibilities I have with the commute. You know, it is very important Andrew, when you work in this environment, that you feel loved and welcomed and appreciated also. Imagine that you are going into work every day, let’s say your boss hates you, it’s a nightmare, because I did it before. It’s a nightmare. It’s very very helpful when your boss is always encouraging you and supporting you. It really makes you grow faster even. It makes you love your job no matter how many difficulties you are facing. So that’s one of the good things, the environment is really healthy. In a way healthy among your colleagues.

What’s one thing you miss the most about home?

Andrew Chiao

International Relations & Pre-Med (’19)

Fellow HOCAS Member

Where were you, where are you now and where do you want to be in the future?

I was kind of an awkward kid in high school. I was trying to figure out through middle school and beginning of high school what I actually wanted to do with my free time. I wanted to figure out what to do with my free time and I wanted to find something that I was passionate about because it seemed like everyone was finding something they were passionate about like a sport or club that they loved. I did swimming my freshman year of high school and I was just not about that. So that’s where I was and even then I was rowing also but I knew that I didn’t think that I wanted to row in college. I hadn’t found something I was passionate about-- something that I wanted to do in college and make a career out of. Right now? Well obviously I’m in college, but I’m still at a point where I’m more involved than I was, and doing things that I enjoy… I work in Admissions a lot, I do Student Government but at the same time I don’t feel like I’m where I want to be for my future career. There are other extra-curriculars that would look better and be better if I wanted to go into the medical field, but I like doing what I’m doing now because of the diversity of things. Doing all sciencey things gets boring. I like that I have International Relations, my science classes and some extra-curriculars that are not affiliated with those in any way. Where do I want to be? I am hoping to put everything together at some point through an internship or a job that gets me-- I find something that I really like doing and turn that into me going to graduate school and spend more time in the field that I actually want to be in and not just take entry level courses. I want to find myself eventually abroad. That’s very literal though, but that’s the way I’m think of things right now: very literally because I know that I’ll figure out figuratively where I want to go at some point. I have to literally make steps to get where I want to go physically.

What’s a struggle that you have overcome in life or that you’re facing right now?

One I’ve overcome would be I think shyness around people, that was somewhat what I was talking about but in middle school and high school. Somewhere between freshman year and sophomore year I changed my personality. I’m not sure if I turned from a huge introvert into a quiet extrovert, or a loud extrovert, but someone whose personality has changed because I feel like I noticed that my personality was not conducive to what I wanted to do in my life and so I felt at some point that my personality kind of shifted or that I have two layers of personality where one will show at some points in the week and my other personality will show at other times in the week. So getting to that point was kind of big. Something that I’m struggling with now is balancing extracurriculars with school work and social life. I feel like everyone struggles with that at some point. I feel like I’m more proud of, or focus more on what I’ve gotten past rather than what I’m struggling with now because I’m not too worried about what I’m struggling with right now.

What is your most treasured memory?

I was in Nicaragua (this was last summer) I was working there for 3 months with a nonprofit and part of my job was to travel between really, really small rural communities, overseeing volunteers we placed in the communities. 2 of the 4 communities the only way to get to was by a bus. This bus was a converted school bus, a school bus that somehow made its way from Alabama, don’t know how it got to Nicaragua from Alabama… I don’t know if someone drove it, they put it on a boat or what but it got there from Alabama and they repainted it with crazy red and green colors. There were only 4 buses: one that left in the morning, one that came back in the morning, one that left in the afternoon, and one that came back in the afternoon. Every bus is a different color scheme, so this one was kind of green, red, and white camouflage. And I had been taking this bus weekly for about 6 weeks now so the people that drove the bus and the conductor who collected fares knew me pretty well. They had seen me all around-- the gringo was no longer the gringo, he was the Asian kid from the States who was in Nicaragua for an oddly long amount of time. The thing was that the buses get really packed and so once it got packed enough, a lot of the people that were inside the bus-- generally the younger kids who were going to work in the main town they would get out of the bus and get on top of the bus because the top has been fitted with this rack. It was a short rack that went all the way around so that it could be used to store cargo. But people would also sit up there if it got really busy. And they knew that I liked sitting on top because I did it every time, but this time the bus was empty-ish but the guy asked me [in Spanish] ‘Do you want to sit on top?’ and I was like ‘Yeah’. So it was just me on top of this-- they call them chicken buses because you might find a chicken on this bus-- I don’t really know-- so on top of this bus it’s probably going 40/50 mph down a dirt road-- that’s probably an exaggeration it was probably more like 30 mph-- and it was at this point where the sun was coming through the clouds, you could see mountains around you, you were kind of in a drier area but it was still green out and there was a thunderstorm off in the distance and I was sitting on a tire on top of a bus in the middle of nowhere. It was extremely peaceful and very “life” moment definitely. It was a beautiful moment.

What are you most proud of in life?

I think the direction I want to take my career. The direction of where I want to work… It’s going to be hard and I know that and I question whether I want to stick with it everyday.

What direction is that?

International relations, pre-med, public health type direction but I want to do two things: I want to get my medical degree and I also want to get a Master’s Degree in public health because I think that one of the biggest disconnects in the realm of international and global health is between the doctors that actually have to work with people in countries that are affected by epidemic violence, famine, things like that and the international and government organizations that have to make decisions about sending people to that country and providing aid to that country. They don’t understand what doctors have to go through, so I want to work both ends of that. I want to see both sides of an outbreak of a mosquito-born disease because there are always two sides to everything... in the political world too-- in any realm of politics, there are the people who make the political decisions that affect our environment then there are the people that actually have to go and-- say you’re a politician and you are making a legislative decision on climate change and CO2 buildup in the atmosphere and you are ruling in a way that limits how much carbon dioxide a power plant can output in a year and you limit that. But then on the other end you know that that decision is going to shut down that plant, but you don’t care because you want to make the biggest impact in the environment as you can and you know by doing that it’ll limit CO2 output. But then you close power plants. A lot of people don’t realize that there are always people who work in those places who now don’t have a job and now they’re thrown back into unemployment and the same people that were trying to lower CO2 emissions are also touting the low unemployment rate. But you’re just helping the unemployment rate go back up when you put all these people out of jobs. I’m not saying that I’m advocating to keep coal power plants in action but there’s a disconnect between people who make big decisions and the people who are affected by those big decisions.

What are you most grateful for in life?

Definitely my family because I came from a suburb that was small, a suburb of Chicago... I came from a huge high school-- 4000 students in the whole high school, 1044 in my graduating class, but almost everyone came from a stable background. Every now and then you might have a friend whose parents divorced but they’d bring it up casually in conversation but you would never know that they came from that more unstable unfamiliar background. 

Hearing of abusive parents physically and emotionally which just killed me... I was like ‘Wow.’ You made it through that and I would have never known without getting to know you more. The only reason the father stopped being abusive because he realized that she could get back at him. That’s just terrifying. I didn’t realize that people were in situations like that. I never imagined… And I’m even struggling but I don’t have to go through family issues. I couldn’t imagine going through family issues. People are impressive.

It’s amazing how much a person can go through and still appear relatively sane.

How do you want to be remembered how you want to die?

Oh boy. I’m not sure yet. But I know that I want to be remembered in some way, shape, or form because I want to have made an impact. With the direction I’m taking-- a public health direction/medical direction you could boil it down to almost saying that I want someone or people to be alive as a result of me being alive. I want to help, in some capacity, save lives or improve people’s lives, make them healthier or improve society somehow. This is the one that I’m more concerned about, but not really sure about.

What drives you, what’s your greatest passion?

Meeting new people. I love meeting people. It’s a good feeling, knowing someone else. Not even meeting someone new on campus, but meeting someone in a coffee shop or in admissions where I work, or on a plane… anywhere. Just meeting people in general. That’s what drives me, which is surprising because if this were middle school/ freshman me talking, I would not recognize myself because that’s not what I was like when I was younger.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Riding on top of buses in Nicaragua is kind of crazy if you think about it. Because I was thinking about this right now, there were times where they would tell me that they were not going to stop the bus all the way because we’re late, so what they’d have me do is-- they’d do it one of two ways: either I’d be on top of the bus and I’d have to climb down the ladder either in the back or the side of the bus while the bus was still moving, with a backpack on my back and it would slow down to maybe 10 mph and I’d have to jump off, or I would go out the back emergency door. Those weren’t considered emergency doors, they were just considered as another door. So while the bus is still moving I would get out and then pop off the back of the bus while it was still moving.

What do you love about CAS?

Ja-Hon Wang CAS(’17)

Sociology Major & Business Administration Minor

Where were you, where are you now, and where do you want to be in the future?

So I was a Biochem major, thinking about going into biotech and going into pharmaceuticals. That’s where I was. And now I’m a sociology major and business minor. And I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing. In the future… I don’t know yet. I really want to be able to explore… thinking about going into nonprofit management or corporate HR, but yeah it's still to be determined.

What is your most treasured memory?

It’s a super simple memory. My senior spring of high school, I went to a boarding school and my best friend lived down the hall from me. Every day I would come home and drop off my stuff in my room and go to his room and he would be doing homework and blasting music. I would just lay on his couch and stare at the ceiling and kind of just, relax. So I have this memory of staring at the ceiling and feeling joyful just being at peace and rest which is something hard to come by these days… not having to do something and just being together is nice.

If you can pick a hobby for a living what would you do?

I joke that I go to school to get coffee with people. Maybe if it became a career, I would just spend time getting to know people’s stories for a living.

If you can give yourself an advice from 10 years ago, what advice would you give yourself?

So 10 years ago I was ten. I was probably in 5th grade. Stop trying to hang out with popular kids because they are not that cool. Just hang out with the people you hang out with now.

What is something that should be taught in school that isn’t already?

Social skills class. I just think a lot of people lack the ability to practice emotional intelligence… practice how to understand and respond to different social cues, which is important when you are getting any kind of job and interacting with any kind of people.

How do you want to be remembered after you graduate?

I just read this article for a business class about being a charismatic connector and I kind of just want that to be me. I want my teammate members to remember how I brought us together as a team and I want people who I live with to remember how I brought communities together. Just any kind of groups I am part of that I helped facilitate conversations and to bring people together as a family. I think it’s kind of the big thing.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

I think it’s my fear. I think fear is a chain that holds me back from a lot of things. For example, dreaming big is something I struggle with a lot. Having ambition. Changing that will help me to explore more of my potentials.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Cliff diving. Everyone knows that I’m terrified of heights. I can barely jump off like a 6-foot boulder into the water. I just can’t do it. When I went white water rafting with my family in Canada, one of my older sisters who can’t swim jumped before me into the white water rapids, so, if she did that and she couldn’t swim, I couldn’t not do it. It was the most terrifying moment in my life, but I did it and I wanted to do it again but I didn’t.

What is your greatest passion?

Namita Arunkumar, Sal Chaudhry, Rohan Shetty (’20)

Seven Year Med Students

What’s the proudest moment of your life?

Sal: Being born

Namita: My proudest moment is being born before Sal

Rohan: Don’t have one

Sal: I like Namita’s answer that was good

How would you want to be remembered after you graduate?

Sal: We don’t graduate for a long time. That’s my answer. Seriously! School won’t end for us for like 10 years.

Namita: We’re trapped here forever.

Rohan: I’m not thinking that far ahead.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Namita: Rohan you got this.

Sal: Yeah Rohan

Rohan: The highway story? Ok so we were on one of our friends’ rooftops and the building management found us up there or something and they kicked us off. So then we were like you know what let’s do something crazy. My friend was like ‘I’ll pay you 50 bucks if you cross the highway blindfolded.’ It was the West Side Highway in New York… and we were like ‘Yeah, doable, easy.’ So you tie the blindfold and you just go. You can’t run, if you run then you have to redo it so you just have to keep walking and keep going. One kid got tapped and after that kid got tapped we all ran and that was the end of the night.

What were you like in highschool?

Sal: They called me the pickle eater. Kindergarten to 12th grade, at lunch at school I ate 3 pickles everyday.

Namita: I was the crusher because I destroyed all my enemies.

Rohan: Very similar to how I am right now I guess… I don’t know I started off really shy and quiet, then sophomore year was like the weird... change phase so it was like my emo and my white--

Sal: You questioned your race?

Rohan: Uh

Namita: Rohan went through Eat, Pray, Love in high school.

What do you love about CAS?

Namita: I don’t have any classes in there… archeology discussion… love archeology.

Sal: I like the name. My favorite thing about C-A-S are the people who call it CAS.

Rohan: But it IS CAS… I’m still gonna call it CAS

Namita: Yeah we love Rohan and people like Rohan

What’s your guilty pleasure song?

Namita: Fergalicious

Sal: That’s not really… that’s a good song

Namita: You’re right. It’s a classic

Sal: I don’t think I have any guilty pleasure songs because I listen to the best music ever.

Rohan: *Plays Bohemian Rhapsody*

Namita: Let me check my spotify… I have Hips Don’t Lie... but I listen to it legitimately.

Sal: Oh Jeremiah

Namita: OH that song by Shaggy… It Wasn’t Me! Although I think that’s a good song

Sal: Shaggy as in that reggae guy Shaggy? I know that guy I love his songs

Rohan: I’m looking

Namita: I have 90’s Swedish pop on my playlist although that’s legit

Sal: Isn’t that what serial killers listen to?

Namita: Ace of Base, my parents would play it for me in the womb. Apparently I would kick when they played Ace of Base.

Rohan: Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

Namita: It comes from his emo phase in high school

How would you describe yourself in one word?

Namita: Sufficient

Sal: Sloth

Namita: I hate sloths… I hate sloths... they’re so creepy.

Rohan:

What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

Namita: I walked into a pole.

Sal: Yeah that was pretty embarrassing.

Namita: I was on my way to chem and then they asked me if I was drunk… but it was 9 am… but then you know I was like I’m on my way to chemistry so valid question and then he looked at me.

Sal: Wait you said that?

Namita: Yeah

Rohan: That’s so funny actually.

Namita: He looked at me for a long time… and then he was really concerned about what kind of pole it was too. It was the most useless pole you could walk into. It had no sign on it or anything… it was just a steel pole. He was like ‘Was there a stop sign on the pole… like a street sign’ I was like ‘No it was just like a pole’ and he was like ‘Oh’. That probably wasn’t the most embarrassing thing that I’ve ever done… I’ve definitely done worse.

Sal: I don’t know I just don’t get embarrassed… they’re not embarrassing moments they’re great moments.

Sal: Rohan… when your pants ripped.

Rohan: That’s not embarrassing that’s just funny… but how embarrassing is it?

Namita: You ripped your pants for your interview so...

Rohan: That’s an interesting story, not an embarrassing story. I don’t know honestly.

Namita: Rohan’s chilling ‘I guess I’m just perfect’.

Rohan: I… it’s just that like it’s not embarrassing things they’re just things I do… I don’t know.

What is something that should be taught in school that already isn’t?

Namita: How not to be dumb. Taking care of yourself.

Rohan: Home ed.

Sal: A class on how to manage your money… taxes.

Namita: Stress management… like self-care.

Rohan: No.

Sal: For me managing money because once people get a paycheck they don’t know what to do with it.

Daniel Tyburski

CAS Academic Advisor, Bob’s Burgers and Fantasy Sports Enthusiast

Where were you, where are you now and where do you want to be in the future?

I’m originally from Hartford, Connecticut. And my parents moved just across the line into the next town over, but my middle name is actually Hartford – the city that I was born in – but randomly because my mother’s maiden name is Hartford. I went to college in kinda mid-state New York in Poughkeepsie, and then after college I moved to Colorado and I was a garbage man in Rocky Mountain National Park. And then I moved to Boston on a coin flip. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, and a friend of mine and I flipped a coin and it was either Boston or Portland, Oregon – and Boston won. I’ve been in Boston ever since. I live in Somerville. I’ve been here for 16 years. And where am I gonna be? I don’t know. I could be anywhere. I would move to the South; I love the deep South. I would move to New Orleans. I love Chicago, I love San Francisco, and I love Portland.

What is a struggle that you overcome in life?

When I was really little, my mother got really sick and it was pretty much just me and my dad and my brother until high school, when my mom passed away. My dad got remarried and there were a lot of refractions in that. So, like, growing up was kind of chaotic and weird and one of those situations where everyone is trying too hard. For a while it was just like, you know, a dad and a brother and all of a sudden it was this like very "Brady” family with like tons and tons of people in it.

If you could pick a hobby for living what would you do?

I think I would be a standup comedian. I did improv comedy in college and writing and stuff like that. But I’m coward, ha-ha; standing in front of people is scary.

Right now, if you could give advice to yourself 10 years ago, what would you say?

Buy REAL ESTATE. I lived in a house that – at the time I was living in it – got sold for like $200,000, and now it’s like a $1,000,000 house. If I had that kind of money, I’d buy real estate.

Tell me something you enjoy doing.

I play fantasy sports, like fantasy football, fantasy soccer, fantasy basketball, fantasy baseball, and fantasy golf. Yah, I’m a big nerd. I just like looking at stats and kind of argue with my friends.

How would you describe today’s society?

Fractured. I think many people are very committed to their idea of the way they want things to be and it’s difficult for people to kind of give a little to come together. And it just makes people very divided.

What drives you? What is your greatest passion?

Go back to being funny. Like finding the humor in things, finding the kind of hidden underlying joke and meaning and stuff, and finding people’s personalities.

Tell me about this one particular moment in college that stood out to you.

I loved college. I have a million moments and they are all awesome. When I started out college I was not a very good student. I didn’t know how to be a student and I think I was way too social. I was, like, doing all the wrong things there. And then for whatever reason, one day in my sophomore year I figured it out. I was like, “Oh, go to class.” It was amazing – for whatever reason I just figured it out, like, “Oh, this is so much easier now.”

If you can change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

I wish I was, like, six inches taller. Growing up playing sports like basketball, I was like, “It would be so much better if I’m six inches taller.” And also, you know, those times where you have to tippy toe to get stuff on the next shelf. When you go to concerts and you are like bobbing back and forth trying to see, you could just see above people. Six inches would cure all of my Elfs?

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Hmm, flipped a coin and moved to Boston? I don’t know. I’ve done a lot of cool road tripping and I lived for, like, six weeks in a tent in Mississippi doing disaster relief work after Hurricane Katrina. My friends and I drove a van down through Mexico, and just like slept on a beach on a dune next to an ocean for a week – not on anybody’s land, hahaha. The craziest would probably be the Katrina thing because it’s just driving down the to middle of nowhere. I had a place where I knew I was going, but everyday you wake up, go work on houses, and just come back to this little baseball field where we lived.

What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

Hmm, I don’t know. I fell down the front step of my high school once in front of everybody. I’m not terribly embarrassed about it – or at least I know how to take a bow and own it.

What are you most proud of in life?

Mike Djaballah

Biochemistry and Statistics Major

Do you have any idiosyncrasies?

Many. Very sarcastic. Often speak total nonsense. I don’t have any weird habits.

What’s your most treasured memory in college?

It would probably be… going into the city after the patriots won the Super Bowl.

What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

I honestly don’t know, I’m not easily embarrassed.

What were you like in high school?

Pretty similar… at least towards the end of senior year pretty similar… Pretty sarcastic...

What are you most proud of in life?

Um probably getting here… I don’t know, I don’t have a list accomplishments yet. Maybe my friends... I consider them an accomplishment.

If you were given a free round-trip ticket to anywhere, where would you go and why?

This is a difficult one. I’d probably go somewhere in Europe because it’s pretty easy to get from country to country in there. I don’t know exactly what country I’d go to. Probably France considering I speak French. Maybe Italy… it’s a real nice spot for generally historic things.

If you could give yourself advice from the beginning of college?

Don’t waste time not doing anything. If you’re just sitting there not doing anything you could either be doing work or something more fun than what you’re currently doing, so I guess look for things to do. Don’t be passive, be active.

Do you have any secret talents?

I play the viola and not many people do that.

What’s your greatest struggle right now?

Balancing friends with homework and school work with friends.

How would you describe today’s society?

Today’s society I’d have to say… there’s quite a bit of tension nowadays, there has been a divide between people and I think that people really forget like what exactly is going on and they get too caught up in ideals and supporting their own ideals and not letting those fall and they don’t actually perceive what’s going on and they’re shouting at someone and it’s really nothing, this argument is not going to change anything. People get too caught up in themselves. Obviously discussion is good but when it gets too emotionally involved then its caustic.

How close are you with family and did coming to Boston strain your relationship with them?

I’d say that I’m pretty close to family but it may have strained it a bit but not too much. I already didn’t see my brother that often, he went to college a few years earlier than me. I haven’t been living in the same house as my Dad for a while now so it didn’t really strain that much. If anything it strained my relationship with my Mom but even then it wasn’t that bad we still talk decently often.

Were you scared of anything when coming to college?

I think everyone’s scared of making friends but that helps the environment, everyone wants to make friends no one’s really opposed to it. I was curious about the actual work of it, but I don’t know if I was “scared” per say other than leaving current friends to start relationships with new people. I wasn’t terribly afraid of the work or the city, I mean it’s Boston.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

There’s a couple ways to take this question. The craziest major thing I’ve done is probably coming to a city where I have no friends. I have no friends within like 300 miles of this place. Like none. I don’t have anyone… maybe it’s less like 200 miles I knew no one, so when I was coming here completely fresh I didn’t even have any friends from high school, I didn’t even have any friends that I met online, none.

The most physically dangerous thing I’ve ever done? I don’t know I snowboard and that in itself is pretty dangerous. I did also walk on the ice on the ponds in the Commons. Last night actually.

What’s your guilty pleasure song?

What do you mean by guilty pleasure song…? I mean I feel like that’s a bunch of my songs but they're mainly Eminem songs that people are like ‘What are we listening to? Why are we listening to this’ That’s pretty much it. I don’t have any weird “poppy” songs that I belt the lyrics to.

How do you want to be remembered after you graduate?

I want to be remembered as the goofy kid that got work done.

What is something that should be taught in school that already isn’t?

Self-awareness. Like knowing where your strengths and weaknesses are at, that’s very important. You can say ‘Yeah I’m good at math, I’d probably do something with math when I’m older.’ I don’t think that’s good enough. I think that there should be some semblance of a class or somewhere students can go to where they learn about their own strengths. I’m big on the Myer-Briggs personality test with the 16 different personalities and it tells you strengths and weaknesses inside and what kind of work you like to do and that’s a lot more helpful than saying ‘I like math’-- do you like doing creative math? Do you not mind doing tedious problems that need to be done. I think it’s very important that people know where their strengths lie because people are going to be unhappy if not.

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

I don’t really have an answer for this. I’m sure everyone has asked me a hundred times, I don’t have an immediate go-to because usually what people do is ‘Oh I really wanna do this’ or ‘Which one can I pick without any compromise’. I’ll pick someone who has telepathy and can move objects but that’d probably be it.

What drives you, what’s your greatest passion, what gives you excitement and motivation to succeed?

Lawford Anderson

Earth & Environment Professor, Californian, Proud Husband and Dog Owner

Where are you in your career? Where do you want to go?

“I’ve been teaching for 40 years. This is my 40th year and I really love it. I get to work with 18-22-year-olds every day. I couldn’t have a more interesting and exciting job. We are at a research university, and I enjoy research, but I really enjoy including undergraduates and graduates in my research. I think that now being at this for 40 years I probably am six to eight years away from retirement, but who wants to think about retirement when you have such a great job? I know it’s in my future, but it’s not something I really think about. I enjoy this so much. I find that students can really learn about earth and environment. My field is igneous petrology, so I study the origin of the earth’s crust in the context of plate tectonics. My thrill is teaching students about the earth’s environment, and how we affect it. I see students get turned on about the earth and they never thought they could. Now I’m also teaching FY103. I listened to some TED talks and it interested me that I could take the talks and make a whole class. We start off with the beginnings of the universe, the Big Bang, the origins of the first atoms, stars, planets, and then the origins of life, where it came from, fossils. It’s all about our setting. The origin of the Appalachian mountains and soon the origins of Boston is human and natural history. I end with Boston’s earthquake problem. I moved from California thinking that I was going to miss out on its next big earthquake in LA because it has one every 90-300 years. It hasn’t had one since 1857, so it’s due. When it happens in North America won’t be the same. But then I land here and start researching Boston and find out it has a plate problem. It gets fives and sixes, interpolate earthquakes. They happen every 90 to 500 years. The last was 1755, and a 6 can do the damage of an 8 because it’s away from a plate boundary. So Boston’s due. Downtown was an island. The Boston gardens were a marsh that had high tides. They filled it in. A lot of Boston is also near the groundwater table, only about 8 feet away. This causes intense shaking in earthquakes, called liquefaction, because of the lingering surface waves. Many of our brownstones, like Bay State Road, are built on pilings, like underground pillars. Bay State is actually like a pier because the ground is too unstable. They are on telephone poles going 100 feet down. They are now 150 years old, we have used a lot of the ground water, and now the poles are rotting because they are in contact with oxygen now, Brownstones are starting to collapse without any earthquake. No kidding. Boom.”

Is there something expected/interesting about yourself that students wouldn’t know?

“I almost flunked out of school. A lot of people have trouble those first few years. I was out of my league. I moved away from home, I got distracted, I joined a fraternity, I was having a great time. A lot of parties. In high school, I never studied on weekends. But that wasn’t working and I was crashing. I had to learn how to study, and how to be disciplined. And that’s what I did. My grades were so low that first year, but eventually I became a straight A student. From that situation, I learned never to judge others, just be patient, and wait cause some students will have an easy ride all 4 years, but most students will struggle some. Teachers need to be patient and not judgmental. My seminar has 7 students. My 100 level class has 146 students. I have taught about 6,000 students. A lot of them stay in contact with me, and that’s cool. I have re-met former students. My last year at USC in 2011, we took a field trip to the middle of the Mojave Desert. Barstow is at the crossroads of Las Vegas and Needles, CA. At a McDonald’s pit stop, and I hear whispering in the back, and suddenly they yell, “Is that you Dr.A?” and I turned and here were students from 8 years ago, who met in my class and became close friends, and they were on their way to Las Vegas. It was just beautiful. And I’m able to have encounters like that all of the time. Initially, I think students were uncertain about my learners-centered class, but they very soon see I’m not intimidating.”

What are you most proud of professionally? Personally?

Joseph Wippl

International Relations & FY103 Professor, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer 

“What made you interested in international relations and intelligence?” 

“First of all, I had always been interested in international relations and affairs. In high school, I was part of the Politics Club. As an undergrad I was still really interested, and then I had the opportunity to do a fellowship in Munich, Germany, to do research, and spending a year in Munich made me decide that an academic career wasn’t really what I wanted. Instead, I wanted to get into some job where I could possibly pursue my interests in international relations and also live overseas. So when I came back to the University of Minnesota after a year overseas, I went to the University of Minnesota recruiter and I told him what I wanted, and he told me to do a number of things. He told me to apply to the U.S. military, to the Department of State, NSA, and CIA. He gave me a contact and 10 months later I was hired as a trainee for the Director of Operations of the CIA.” 

“What was it like working for the CIA while at BU?”

“I was still employed for the CIA for the first two years that I was at BU, but I was prohibited to try to get people to join the CIA, or to engage in any developmental activities. As soon as you leave that headquarters building, you might as well have moved to Mars, as far as what the agency concerns itself with. The only thing that was different is when I would visit my family in Washington, D.C. I could go into headquarters, but no one was calling me up and asking for advice. Things were already very different. Once you’re gone, you’re gone.” 

“Are there any crazy stories that you can tell us about during your time working for the CIA?”

“There are a lot of crazy stories, and I will say this. The image that the CIA and FBI and military all have in popular culture is that everybody is mean and serious and nasty, but I swear to you you’d never laugh so hard as you do if you work for the CIA, because so many funny things happen all the time. The place where I laughed the hardest was when I was the Director of Congressional Affairs. That tells you something about the Congress. But it’s a really fun place to work with a lot of funny and smart people. I’ll leave it at that. Come to my class if you want to hear some more stories.” 

“What’s your favorite movie that you’ve seen recently where you liked how your profession was portrayed?” 

“Some I liked and I thought were pretty accurate in a lot of ways were “Charlie Wilson’s War,” with director Mike Nichols and starring Tom Hanks. It has its usual Hollywood stuff, things that aren’t true, like East Coast Elite, but they put it in there anyway. I also really liked “Argo.” It also showed the spirit of the agency. I didn’t like “Zero Dark Thirty” at all. Series like “Homeland” and “The Americans” are really wacko, but there are always elements in these things that are true. In “Homeland” the surveillance detection room was pretty good and accurate. This last season with the Chief of Europe and the Chief of Station, I had both of those jobs. In “The Americans,” they do a really good job of light disguises. But then there’s also all the shooting people and they’re always mad, and that’s just not true.” 

“Tell us something interesting or unexpected about yourself that students wouldn’t know and that isn’t related to your career.”

“My hobbies are history and going to the movies and I like doing things like snorkeling in the Caribbean. I love the opera, and go to New York City a couple of times a year. I go to a number of symphony concerts every year. I think Boston is a great city to live in and find things to entertain yourself with.”

“Tell me about your FY103 class.” 

“I think it’s an experience, and it is essentially trying to be an introduction to the world of intelligence through the National Clandestine Service (NCS) and what it does, and how it delivers information to the president, how it collects information, how it conducts covert action and counterintelligence, and how it corresponds to the laws of our country. It’s not just “flying by the seat of our pants,” there are very formalized legal processes. One of the students asked a great question, ‘How much power does the CIA director have?’ and the answer is that it depends on how much power the President gives them. If it’s Allen Dulles from Eisenhower or Bill Casey from Reagan, it’s a lot of power. If it’s Raborn from Johnson, very little power.” 

“What are you most proud of, either personally or professionally?”

Kerry Buglio

Assistant Dean of Advising & Academic Services, Lover of Bad Puns and Bad Jokes, Rollercoaster Mom

“Describe the most beautiful place you’ve ever been.”

“I would say Alaska. I went on an Alaskan cruise and just sailing one of the days to a glacier and just seeing all the gorgeous waterfalls and icebergs as we sailed through, and the colors... it felt like another planet, it was just absolutely stunning. I’ve been to beaches like the Caribbeans and the Grand Canyon, but Alaska just has such a unique quality to it.”

“What’s a struggle that you overcame in life?”

“I’m a problem solver by nature and that doesn’t sound like a struggle, except that sometimes people talking to you don’t want you to solve their problem - they just want you to listen. So as an academic advisor, you know, my inclination is to help solve problems, but sometimes students just like to have me hear them out. I just learn that through experience.”

“What are you most proud of or grateful of in life?”

“I’d say my education. I struggled as an undergrad and was not a great student, and didn’t have a lot of family support. So getting through college and then also going on to get my master’s degree... In a way, I didn’t pay for that master’s degree. I worked at the university I went to school at and I worked hard to get my education.”

“Tell me something that you enjoy doing.”

“I love rollercoasters. In fact, my favorite kind is freefall rides. I was just on a cruise that had water slides and one of the water slides was a freefall water slide. So you got in, you stand on this platform, and the pod closes over you, and they count down, then the floor drops out from under your feet. One of my favorite rides was a freefall ride in Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL. This one, when you get to the top, it tilts your chair 90 degrees forward so you are facing the ground and then they do the freefall. That’s my favorite.

Tess Varney 

Academic Services Administrator, Master of Business Administration, Avid Movie Goer, Hot Dog Enthusiast, One Direction Fangirl, Proud Iowan

“What is your favorite part about your career?”

“I would say I get to interact with a lot of people and I’m super extroverted and get a lot out of interacting with people. So getting to interact with people and getting to figure out how to solve their problems is really gratifying. Sometimes students come in and their problems are really complex, or sometimes their problems are really simple. But being to help them and being able to leave feeling better knowing that it’s going to be taken care of is really satisfying.”

“What drives you, what is your greatest passion, and what gives you excitement and motivation to succeed?”

“I really like solving problems and I think that can kind of apply across a lot of things, not just work. I find it really intriguing and interesting, and I can get really into it. And I like solving problems in a way that helps other people, either systemic things or helping people figure out where to go to dinner, basic stuff.”

“My greatest passion might be food. That might not be a normal choice but I love food. I live to eat, I don’t eat to live. I will eat anything and everything at least once. I eat a lot of hot dogs, which is not the coolest thing ever, but they’re delicious.”

“I think something that gives me motivation and excitement is learning, and I think you can learn in everything that you do. I think that really permeates into the kind of way that I approach things and wanting to learn new things, wanting to have new experiences that teach me new things either about the world or myself. I’m always pushing myself to do more of that.”

“What is a struggle that you overcame at some point in your life?”

“I have some learning disabilities, and so, 1) learning that that’s okay and that doesn’t mean I’m dumb, and 2.) learning how to learn because I do think that everyone learns differently, and that certain styles of learning are more the focus of the way they were taught things, and making sure that I learn how to adjust to the way I learn and how those disabilities interact with that, and being able to be successful in school and other things.”

“If you could pick a hobby and do it for a living, what would you do?”

“Probably be involved in film somehow. I volunteer at the independent film festival every year; this is going to be my sixth year volunteering with them. When I first started, I would take tickets and manage the line, but the last 3 years I’ve been doing film introductions and running the Q&As afterwards with filmmakers, so I’d love to be more involved with film somehow. I think for me personally I’d like to be involved on the production side, but the thing that I really like about film is the storytelling and the way that everyone approaches it differently. I think it’s really interesting the way people interpret that and make it visual, so I’d love to be involved in helping get those projects made. A movie that I always love is The Royal Tenenbaums, it’s been a movie I’ve really loved for a long time. It’s weird and dark and also really goofy at times. It’s just a really well made film.”

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

“Oh man. I biked down a volcano in Ecuador and we got to the top of the volcano. The bikes were in the back of this pick-up truck, and it was me, another girl I was with, and our guide. So we all get out, and we’re standing there with our bikes, with helmets on, and he turns to us and he’s like, “You guys both have really good balance, right?” And I was like, “No! I don’t, I have terrible balance!” And the truck is driving away down this volcano, and I was like, “Well, this is going to be interesting.” I fell a bunch and scraped up my leg, but it was still a really cool experience.”

“Why are there dinosaurs in all of your plants?” 

Paolo Mauricio (CAS ‘15)

Avid Marathon Runner, Former Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and French Major, Linguaphile

“Where are you, where are you now, where do you want to be in the future?”

“Wow. Starting off real. Where am I? Okay, so I’ll start with where I am. I think where I am now and where I want to go is pretty clear to me. I am in Paris teaching English in Argenteuil. I’m teaching English to high school seniors and I actually think it’s been a really rewarding experience. It kind of reminds me a lot of high school. I have a lot of free time too, so I’ve been spending that time training for the Paris Marathon and I’ve been reading a lot and trying to get into medical school. That’s a bit about where I am now. In terms of where I’m going, I was admitted into the BU masters in medical science program, so I’m coming back. It looks like for sure, because med schools didn’t really get back to me -- it’s a hard process. So I’m really happy to be going back to BU and improving my academic portfolio and just being a better candidate for medical school. So hopefully where do I see myself... I see myself graduating from medical school in the future. I want to be a doctor. I really love foreign languages, so I’d really love to work abroad for an organization like Doctors Without Borders. And I think that if I had to choose a field right now, it would be surgery just because it really fascinates me and I like the idea of being able to work with my hands. But nothing’s really set in stone. So that’s where I’m going. And where I was… I don’t know why, I feel like that shouldn’t be the hardest question. I mean, shortly, I was born in the Philippines, immigrated to the US when I was 2, grew up in New Hampshire, and I did pretty well in high school and ended up at BU.”

“If you could pick a hobby and do it for a living, what would you do?”

“Even though I’m really interested in medicine, and I know for sure that I want to be a doctor, I’ve really fallen in love with linguistics and languages. I think living abroad has really helped that. For me, what’s really fascinating is looking at languages, trying to learn new ones, and just really appreciating sounds and how languages form and how they reflect our cultures. If I had to pick a hobby, I would just keep learning languages. Not just for the sake of speaking, but also for the sake of where do words come from, why do languages have this formula... I wish I had more time to take linguistics classes at BU. I only took two, but I really enjoyed them.”

“What was the scariest moment in your life?”

“This one is easy. I think back to 2013 during the marathon bombings because that was when I knew that my family was at the finish line and they had blockaded off the finish line. I don’t think I’ve ever cried like that. I’ve only cried like that another time and that was when my grandmother passed away. But I was really scared because I was actually running.” 

“When were you aware that there was a bombing? Were you close to the finish line? What was your thought process during that?” 

“I feel like psychology is interesting because it’s all kind of a blur. For traumatizing moments like these, we add memories that can sometimes be false. But I’m pretty sure I was around... I was between Cleveland Circle and Kenmore Square, I wasn’t far. And I remember someone coming up to me and being like, stop running there’s a bomb. And I remember asking a police officer, oh is there a bomb? And they said I don’t know, we’re getting conflicting reports, just keep going. So I kept running and it was around when I reached Kenmore when I knew things were happening. I just remember running as far as I could, because I knew my parents and grandparents were at the finish line. That’s kind of how it happened that day. That’s how I found out. And then I saw people crying, and it was just... that one was tough. I remember that day pretty well.”

“What is something you’ll never forget from your time at BU?”

“There are lots of things I’ll never forget... do I have to pick one thing? I think something that I’ll always take with me -- my favorite moments -- will be the ones that I’ve had with my friends. I think there are 4 aspects of peoples’ lives: a social, mental, physical, and spiritual aspect. And I think that socially, I met people that are just fantastic and I think it’s those relationships that I really treasure. I think of specific moments like my girlfriend, the people in BUFSA, the people I met on my freshman floor. I think of the first marathon I ever ran, which was before they banned anyone from jumping in. I remember running from Cleveland Circle to the finish line. It was me and a bunch of other BUFSA people. Now that I think about it, that was one of my most treasured memories of my time at BU. I have a lot, from graduation, to my first day... yeah, it’s a lot.”

“Describe the most beautiful place you’ve ever been to.” 

“When I was studying abroad my sophomore year, I backpacked in Morocco by myself for one and a half weeks. Actually, I was with a friend from BU for part of it. We rode camels into the desert and watched the sunset in Sahara. Watching the sunset and then watching the sunrise the next day was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The air was so clean, it was like a clear cloudless day and we slept in tents under the stars. It really was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, just the sun and the desert in Morocco.” 

“If you could do it all over, what would you do differently? Any advice for current students?”

David M. Carballo

Assistant Professor of Archaeology, Director of Graduate Studies, Mesoamerican Archaeology Specialist, Potential Boston Red Sox Left Fielder, Author, Proud Father

“Where were you, where are you now, and where do you want to be?”

“I was born in New York City, but I mostly grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. I’m an assistant professor of Archaeology with cross affiliations in the Latin American Studies program in Anthropology here in CAS. I’d like to continue at BU and continue in Archaeology. I work in Mexico; that’s where I do my research, I’m still very much interested in that. If anything changed in the future, I’m getting a little more interested in the period of Spanish conquest and colonialism and so that might have me moving through Latin America, but otherwise I just foresee myself as continuing in Mexico for the rest of my life...until I retire.” 

“What led you to this path?”

“I had a less traditional path. I was not a major in anthropology or archaeology, I was a political science major. And it wasn’t until my senior year where I had this class with a very dynamic professor named Anthony Aveni, who is sort of a founder of this field known as Archaeoastronomy. He’s a trained astronomer, and actually was a BU undergrad. who went out to Arizona to pursue his PhD. and became fascinated with the Puebloan cultures, Native American ways of knowing the calendar, and astronomy. He really got me into it. We went to a study abroad program in Teotihuacan, which is where I focus. It was really the mix of a dynamic professor and my study abroad experience that got me into this.”

“What is a struggle that you overcame in life?”

“The major one is the death of my father. He died when I was 10. So I was young and that was of course difficult to grow up without a Dad. But I have a really close family and I’m really close to my mom and sister and they are still here in the area so it’s wonderful to be able to come home. We’re close now geographically and emotionally.”

“What is your most treasured memory?”

“Well, now I’m a dad and I have two young boys. I don’t know if there is necessarily one point, but they come down now to Mexico with me and they are really into climbing the pyramids and into Aztec and Pre-Aztec gods and the feather serpents. They even have stuffed animals of the feather serpents. And we have photos of them experiencing the pyramids and just seeing things for the first time and getting to travel, you really can live vicariously through the eyes of the young.”

“If you could pick a hobby and do it for a living, what would you do?”

“Well, the best job other than being an archaeologist for me would be to play left field for the Boston Red Sox, but I wouldn’t say that baseball is a hobby. I play a little baseball for fun and I was a coach, but that would be another dream job, of course. I am working at least at one of the closest offices in the world to Fenway Park.”

“What are you most proud of in life?”

“As a father, I’m proud of my kids. But for my own specific life, I’m proud that I can balance doing something that I really love for a living. There’s a saying attributed to Confucius that if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. I mean, that you feel like you are privileged to be doing something in your life and work doesn’t seem so much as work. Sometimes there are difficult parts to the job, but I really enjoy being able to couple something I love in making a living.”

"What would you say if you could give yourself advice from 10 years ago?”

Angelica Silva (CAS ‘16)

Psychology Major, Sociology Minor, First Generation College Student, President of Alianza Latina, Aspiring Lawyer, Fraternal Twin, Lover of Cultural Dances

“Where were you, where are you now, where do you want to be in the future?

“I come from a big family, so where I am now is largely defined by my family  - they live 45 minutes from here and are a big part of my life. I’m doing a lot of the stuff I’m doing for them just because they’ve provided me with opportunity for me to California and Massachusetts. They definitely support me in a lot of ways, even if they can’t financially, or in other ways that people can be supported. I’m pretty happy with where I am now, as a senior at Boston University. If you had asked me 9 years ago I probably would’ve never guessed that I’d be here, just because I didn’t know what BU was, or what college was necessarily. If someone asked me, I probably wouldn’t have been sure if I was even going to college or not. I’m definitely at a happy place where I am now.”

“You mentioned being really involved in BU. Can you tell me about a memorable experience as a student leader?”

“The biggest thing I’m involved in right now is Alianza Latina. I’m the President, and we are the largest Latino student organization on campus. I’ve been President for two years now. I would say that my most memorable experience as being a student leader was definitely being... so my position moving into President was kind of weird, because I wasn’t on e-board at all before going into presidency. I was kind of just an active member and it just so happened that the cards fell into place in that they needed president and they didn’t have another person to take over. I remember when they asked me, I was like, ‘Oh... President? I haven’t even been on e-board, what do I do?’ I was honored that they asked me and it was a great opportunity, but I would say that it definitely defined the rest of my two years because it just helped me grow into a leader. I was always kind of introverted; I’m more of an observer or a listener, which is definitely an asset for a leader as well. But in terms of dictating things and having to deal with issues within an e-board, that’s harder to do and was something that was kind of pulled out of me as I was thrown into the position of President. It definitely helped me grow as a leader, and I’ve been able to get to know so many more people. I’ve been able to attend different conferences and network with BU faculty and staff. It’s just been a really memorable opportunity for me at BU because it’s helped my strengths and weaknesses.”

“If you could pick a hobby and do it for a living, what would you do and why?”

“I really enjoy dancing. I never went to any official dance class when I was younger or was actually professionally taught to dance, but I’ve always wanted to be. I take Zumba classes at the FitRec and I would like to learn more about choreography and just enhancing those skills, because it’s one thing dancing and it’s another to dance by learning choreography and being able to follow along with the steps. Dancing around the world would be great because I would love to go to different countries and learn different styles of dance and just do that for the rest of my life. That would be awesome.”

“What drives you to succeed?”

“Definitely where I come from. The types of social issues my family has had to deal with coming into this country, like being a family of immigrants, being a first-generation college student, and being Latino, there are a lot of issues that I have to be aware of and am constantly educating people on, and that’s definitely been a drive in every single aspect of my life. A lot of the jobs I do are for helping minority populations whether it’s for healthcare, education (English language learning), or just legal translating or something like that, it’s something that drives me to help others who are in a similar situation that I was in when I came to this country (or that my parents were in, more specifically). So giving them resources that they may not have had or may not have been aware of really drives me to want to make a better life, not just for my family, but also for others and have them be more comfortable in the United States, a country where sometimes it’s difficult to transition into this culture.”

“How would you describe today’s society?”

“Well... it’s difficult because i feel like I’m biased, because my friend group is very similar and we all share similar opinions. A large part of our conversations have revolved around the presidential election just in the fact that Donald Trump is leading the polls. It’s kind of taken over every aspect of our lives and the fact that we have to consider that there are so many people out there voting for someone who shares such controversial and frustrating prejudices and opinions, and someone who just doesn’t consider different cultures to be people. He constantly discriminates against women, Latinos, Muslims, people of all different backgrounds, and to think that there are people voting for him out there not even in just Mass., but out in different states, and there’s the possibility that he could be our President... to me, that is such an overwhelming feeling that is changing the way I define the society. I always knew there were people out there that have those kinds of views about minorities or women, but to see it bluntly in your face because of the presidential election and people who are attending these rallies and are actively supporting and putting people down on social media in the public eye... just, really horrible things are being said and it’s depressing because you think society is moving toward a better life for people, but in reality you see that these issues on racism and sexism are still out there. It’s kind of a depressing answer, but I feel like it’s been overwhelmingly part of our conversations in my friend group recently and definitely defining how I think of society today.”

“What are you most proud of in life?”

“I’d probably say that I’m most proud of my little sister. I don’t know. She’s 14 and we come from a large family. In my direct family there’s five of us, but at home we live with around 13 people or so, just with cousins, aunts, uncles, their kids... a lot of generations under one household. I feel like she’s technically the youngest in my direct family but she gets put in the middle of a lot of things. She’s definitely taken on a more responsible and older role than she has to. She’s one of my favorite people in the entire world and she’s the most responsible person and definitely way different than I was at 14. So to see someone that I love a lot go through those things and succeed at everything that she does... She’s on the national team for foot soccer, she’s getting all A’s in school, meanwhile going to practices every other day and having games all weekend, she’s really just become someone that i look up to, even though she’s younger than me. She’s done a lot that makes all of our family proud in the way that she goes through life and handles every situation in a very graceful and respectful manner. It’s really great to see.”

“What is something you’ll never forget from your time at BU?” 

Luke Walsh (CAS’16)

Psychology Major, Education Minor, Warren Towers RA, Admissions Ambassadors Coordinator, CAS Dean’s Host, Scarlet Key Recipient, Passionate Traveler, Kayaker, Avid Pizza Enthusiast 

“What’s your most memorable experience as a student leader?” 

“So two summers ago I worked for Orientation and we did a skit and ours was Scooby Doo themed, and there was this one scene where everyone danced to “My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard.” So, I was the milkshake. The whole Orientation experience, the whole process, was amazing and I loved opportunities to work with the students and see them when they came back to campus in September. But it was funny because people would be like, ‘Oh, you’re the milkshake!’ So it’s funny that out of that amazing leadership experience, people would recognize me as the milkshake, which is very funny. Just being able to unite with or connect with such a wide variety of people and to be able to be viewed as someone they could approach -- and say, ‘oh, you’re the milkshake’ -- I think that’s the tone of what that summer of working at Orientation set.”

“What do you love about CAS?”

“I really like how big CAS is. Everyone’s graduating from CAS, but the amount of degrees that they’re getting and the wide array of classes they offer is pretty incredible. I’m taking an American Families Sociology class that I never thought I would be able to fit in, but it’s very, very cool, and it’s cool to me to think that this is what my peers are studying for their entire four years. So just the huge variety of everything that CAS offers.” 

“What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?”

“It’s either standing with scuba gear on, standing at the back of a boat overlooking the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, about to jump into the most famous reef in the entire world, or, Milford Sound in New Zealand, which is considered the eighth wonder of the world. It’s amazing. It’s basically like a body of water but it’s been carved by the mountains, so it’s literally a body of water with enormous mountains coming out of it. There’s no sand or shores, it’s literally water hits the mountain and it goes up.

I studied abroad in Sydney last spring, and it was probably one of my favorite experiences at BU. It was just such an incredible opportunity, and the people that I met there were amazing -- I had never met them before, and they’re some of my best friends now. As a graduating senior, I would say they’ve become my best friends. And I also got two international work experiences while I was there; I had two different internships that BU pretty much handed me. I just felt like while I was there I felt so much more free, because I could travel pretty much every other weekend, we went out during the week... It was just a lot of fun.” 

“What’s something you’ll never forget from your time at BU?”

“I think probably just the wide variety of people that I come in contact with every day. And not just in my job that I do every day and the stuff I do on campus. There’s such a wide variety of people in everything that you do. When I go home and talk to my friends over breaks who go to state schools or other schools that aren’t as international or anything as this, to them it’s weird that I know people from Tokyo or Saudi Arabia, but to us it’s commonplace. Which, I think, that global sense of BU that I didn’t expect -- I knew it was there but I wasn’t expecting to be that impacted by it. And I think that is probably my favorite part about BU.” 

“If you could do it all over, what advice would you give to current students?”

Renata Keller

Assistant Professor of International Relations, Lover of Board Games and Card Games, Author of Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution

“What are you most proud of?” 

“My book just came out last year, my first book. So I’m really proud of that and getting to see it finished. It’s about the Cold War in Mexico and Mexican-US relations. 

I grew up an hour and a half from the Mexican border, and I learned Spanish pretty early on. I was always interested in Mexico. When I was looking for places to study abroad in college, I wanted to use my Spanish skills but I didn’t want to go to Spain because that’s where everyone goes. So I studied abroad in Chile and loved it, and wanted to go back as soon as possible and see more of Latin America.” 

“What is your favorite part about your career?” 

“Probably the variety of things I get to do. I get to teach, do research, travel a lot... so every day is a little bit different and every class is a little bit different. I’m never bored. I really like the FY103 program because my classes are more specialized, they all focus on Latin America. I tend to not get a lot of freshmen in my classes, normally. I miss that and I miss getting to meet our new students and getting to know them and helping them navigate a new place. So it’s a good way to get me more involved in a wider variety of BU students.” 

“What is unique about this generation of students?”

“This generation grew up on the Internet age, and I remember most of my schooling we eventually had one shared computer in my house and I was halfway through high school before we got internet. And that’s just not the case with students here, they’ve had those tools since before they can remember. So they have a different view of the world and what’s possible.” 

“If you could pick a hobby and pursue that as a career, what would you pick?”

Ivan (Tsz Kin) Yuen (CAS’20)

Early Decision Incoming Freshman, Ambitious Traveler, Ceramicist, Lover of Cheeseburgers

“I like ceramics a lot. But since I’m from a traditional Chinese Family and society, my parents don’t support me doing ceramics. They don’t think it’s a realistic thing to do. But it’s really my passion and it forces me to be more creative. If I can be a potter and start my own studio, make my stain, sell my pot, that will be great. 

When I was little, my mom made me do painting, like two-dimensional stuff, but I didn’t like it and felt like it was boring. I really like 3D sculpture, that’s what I like the most. Ceramics is not as difficult as 2D because the basic thing is to make them symmetrical and I can apply my geometry and math knowledge to it. Doing ceramics can make me more patient when solving a problem, so I like to work by myself quietly in a room and make my own stuff. I really think ceramics is a meaningful thing because I’m combining soil, water, and fire to make something we use every day. And I think that’s very beautiful of a human being to make their own tools. Doing ceramics can help me to be more patient and more concentrated when doing other works.” 

“What do you think about America so far?” 

“I think America is a place for people with different backgrounds, similar to my experience in Hong Kong where I stayed with a lot of people from different cultures, I think this place can give me more opportunity to explore more and broaden my horizons. 

I like American food. I like cheese and meat. Juicy. Oily. That’s what I like. Unhealthy food. It makes me feel good. My favorite American dish is probably Shake Shack. I like cheeseburgers.” 

“What is one thing you think you’ll miss the most about high school?” 

“Probably the relationship between friends. In college life, we have a bigger population, it will be harder for me to make new friends. In my school there are only 300 people, I know everyone, but at BU, there are people with different backgrounds, people with different ages... it’s more diverse so it’s going to be harder for me to adapt.” 

“What is something you’re most proud of or a struggle you’ve overcome?”

“One thing I’m most proud of is that I have a lot of friends from different places because I like to be social, not do stuff on my own. I like to spend time with my friends and like to build good relationships with them. From time to time, they help me and I give my helping hand to them, and then these relationships really helped me to create my own self and help my daily life to improve and I’m hoping to continue this kind of relationship in college.