Leah DeHaemer / The Hofstra Chronicle

“I came [to Hofstra] from the University of Connecticut. I was born in Smithtown, which is about 40 minutes away from here. The best school I got into was UConn. I went there for initially computer science and engineering, specifically because I wanted a job. But I got there and it was a no. Computer science, whoever does that, God bless them. I fell into media and communications, and I wanted to make movies, television … I wanted to be one of those famous YouTube comedian people, wanted to be one of those, but funny. But I was there for four years and I joined the organization [I’m] in now, Alpha Phi Omega [APO], only because my older sister was in it, and she said, ‘You have to join this, you [have to] do it for your resume.’ I was like, ‘Resume? I’m a freshman in college, I don’t care about my resume.’ But I joined it and made all of my friends in that organization throughout the four years … But I got out, with my degree in communications. I had an internship lined up with NBC to work on Jerry Springer’s new show … I did a marketing internship, and I wanted to go into marketing too, just, like, anything in media really. I just wanted to be creative, that’s all I wanted from a job. But there was too much business involved with it; the heart is missing. I like being with people. I like seeing the effect I have on people, like, up-close and personal. I also like to help people, which we do a lot now in APO … And my roommate that I met in APO … was in education, he’s a teacher. He’s getting his master’s now abroad for education. And I’d always thought about the idea of being a history teacher, but my parents were like, ‘They don’t make enough money, you can’t do that, everyone’s a teacher.’ Especially where I’m from, everyone works in the school district. [My roommate] was the only person to push me in the direction of doing it … I’m good at math – semi – and I like helping people with math, because a lot of people need help with math, so I’m thinking, ‘Why not be a math teacher?’ And the more I thought about it, and the more he helped me feel like I could do it. I was like, ‘Yeah, why not?’ So, we graduated, and it felt like that was it, like, I can’t go back to it. Because [of my] degree in communications I got a ton of college debt, [so] I [have to] get out there and do something. But I talked with my parents about it, and they were like, ‘You’ve never felt so strongly about something before.’ … And then after discussing that Hofstra [is] $50,000 a year, [my father] begrudgingly said, ‘Yeah, go for it.’ And then here I am, pursuing my dream and helping people along the way. And they’re helping me learn things too.”