To say I did not have a clear path throughout my undergraduate career is quite an understatement. I came into UW-Madison during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic with a completely online and remote virtual Freshman year. I started my journey on a Pre-Med track in gastroenterological health, then quickly transitioned to a Pre-Law track in medical law during my sophomore year, then finally decided on a Communication Arts degree at the beginning of my junior year. I had a scattered undergraduate career to say the least.
As I started to near the end of my bachelor’s program, I started to feel like something was missing. I had made great connections and met amazing people, but I felt a lack of impact with what I was doing. It was not until I took the UW Producing Theater class in Spring 2024 with Bolz Center instructor Aaron Thielen that I would start to find a part of my college career that was missing: Community. In that class, I learned and gained so much respect for different types of actors, artists, and all others. Being in this class started to open a new door for me to what I wanted to do, working with passionate groups and communities of people.
However, I held a long-standing belief that graduate school was not for me. I had completely written it off, thinking that there was no graduate program that would speak to me and who I am as a person and learner. This changed after a night at my work where I ran into a Bolz Center 2024 MA candidate where he talked about the program and what the program entailed. This immediately interested me as it felt like the right combination of my passion for art and engagement, and a great way to actually make an impact on communities with the work I do. Within less than two weeks of that conversation, I sent my application in and within days of my graduation found out that I was accepted into the 2025 Cohort.
From this experience, I have learned to always embrace opportunities and not to let a bias or preconceived notion sway myself from going down a new path. I never would have imagined myself in a graduate program 4 years ago, but I am so lucky and so fortunate to be able to call myself a Bolzie. Within the first 2 months I have learned so much about who I am and what I want to do with my future career. Looking ahead, I want to strengthen my knowledge in the intersection of art and patient advocacy to best serve those in the areas I can impact most. I have met extraordinary people that I know I will stay in touch in the future. With the Bolz Center in my life and supporting my journey, I am excited to forge a legacy that finally combines all of my passions.
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