I am six hundred miles away from campus and I still feel connected to Holy Cross. But it’s a different kind of connection.
Right now, I’m putting in final touches on a paper for my International Relations course. If I were on campus, I might be huddled in a corner of Cool Beans or poring over books in Dinand Library. Afterward, I might hang out with friends or get something to eat at Kimball. But now, as I explore U.S.-China relations from inside of a storage closet we turned into a makeshift study space, evenings like that seems distant.
This isn’t what I imagined my first semester at Holy Cross would look like. But I am fully immersed in this community. Over the past few months, I have experienced what this incredible school has to offer.
I have engaged with brilliant, dedicated professors who push my limits, fuel my intellectual curiosity, and inspire me to learn more about the world. Classes at Holy Cross are welcoming and interactive, complete with engrossing material and engaging breakout sessions.
Outside of class, I have taken advantage of extraordinary opportunities. Dr. Anthony Fauci ’62 visited our school to answer questions about the coronavirus. In September, I attended a lecture about politics by Joseph Nye, one of the country’s leading political scientists and the former Dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Later, I learned about political campaigns through a lecture by Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House and nominee for Vice President. Most recently, I attended my first meeting of the Alexander Hamilton Society, an award-winning foreign policy-based student organization. We discussed and learned more about developments in the middle east.
Despite the pandemic, I have gotten more from my first semester at Holy Cross than I could have ever imagined. One word: thankful.
