She Roars: U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan

"Learning is a lifelong endeavor," reflected U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Class of 1976, during a conversation with Justice Elena Kagan, Class of 1981. The conversation, moderated by Heather Gerken ’91, the Dean of Yale Law School was part of a conference, “She Roars: Celebrating Women,” at Princeton that celebrated the 50th year of coeducation at Princeton.

As I waited in line for hours to get a ticket for the event earlier that week, I sat beside several of my classmates, watching the live confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh on my laptop. Yet as soon as I arrived to the event, the anxiety of the week was forgotten. Kagan and Sotomayor took the air out of the room.

Kagan and Sotomayor reflected on their time at Princeton—from classes and grades and their senior thesis advisors, to the mentors that they found here. “Find people who are doing things that you admire that you don’t think you can do,” urged Justice Sotomayor.

In many ways, these are parts of the Princeton Experience that are universal; the entire room of alumni and undergraduate attendees could relate to the kind of intellectual development that is earned by making mistakes and learning from them. However, as Sotomayor cautioned, "You can make a mistake once but you shouldn't make it twice."

Kagan and Sotomayor later reflected on the challenge of confronting difficult conversations with frankness and objectivity. They agreed that as members of the highest court in the country, they have never mistaken the minority of women on the court for an impoverishment of their individual authority and power of opinion. Speaking of the women on the Supreme Court, Kagan added, “None of us are shrinking violets.”

In many ways, part of what Princeton seeks to instill in its students are the fledgling roots of this kind of intellectual confidence. In classrooms, in precepts and in conversations with faculty and fellow students, it is instilled in us that our voices matter and that because our voices matter, we must speak up, but we must do so with care.

In the shadow of a tense week, Kagan and Sotomayor demonstrated optimism and hope. As alumnae of the University, they are notable examples of impact and power that women have at Princeton University.

Picking my Last Classes at Princeton

For many of my friends and classmates in the Class of 2019, next semester—our last semester—unlike previous ones filled with distribution requirements and departmentals, is an opportunity to explore new, exciting courses, disciplines and departments. For the first time since first-year fall, I have no pressing requirements to fulfill or prerequisites to complete. Having completed all of the requirements for my department, certificates and Princeton’s distribution requirements, I had the opportunity to take literally whatever I wanted—and I had no idea what I wanted to take.

The fact that I will only take three more classes at Princeton (EVER) made my course selection choices feel incredibly urgent and incredibly important. The seven other semesters of classes that I have taken at Princeton have undoubtedly contributed equally to my overall sense of intellectual fulfillment here. However, as I selected my classes this semester, I felt a pressure to look for classes that would somehow encapsulate my "Princeton Experience" or capture the spirit of my time here. Due to the thesis requirement, seniors in most departments are only required to take six classes throughout their last year—students can choose to take four courses in the fall and two courses in the spring or three courses each semester.

As many of my senior friends and I perused course offerings, we turned to each other, seeking recommendations for classes that could provide us with a sense of fulfillment in our last semester. For some, this meant seeking relatively stress-free classes that could enable them to enjoy all of parts of Princeton outside academics: dance classes like “Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance” or “Stillness”, art and art-making classes like “Digital Photography” or “Drawing I”, or truly unique, fun-spirited classes like “Radioactive: Wakka Wakka,” which offers students an opportunity to study “puppetry, live animation, and optical illusions,” offered by the Princeton Atelier program. Others sought classes in uncharted territory, signing up for ones far outside of their disciplines and areas of study—classes that they had always been interested in, but had never had the chance to take.

I asked my friends about their favorite classes and professors, I reached out to friends who have graduated recently to hear about classes they regretted not taking and I listened to my first-year advisees discuss the classes they were most excited about, before passing on my own recommendations to them.

My senior fall semester was one of my favorites at Princeton. I was challenged by my courses but also exposed to wonderfully interesting material and amazing opportunities (like going to see Hamilton with one of my classes!). I appreciated the balance and intellectual fulfillment I found. However, the semester also set a high standard for my final days at Princeton. Seeking to maximize a similar combination of interesting but challenging material, new disciplines and amazing faculty for my final semester while still leaving ample time to complete my thesis, I decided on four classes that I will “shop” in spring to decide on the three classes I’ll ultimately take: "Supply-side Aesthetics: American Art in the Age of Reagan", "US Foreign Policy and the Middle East since 1979", "The Arab-Israeli Conflict", and "Communism and Beyond: China and Russia".

Princeton Sponsored Self-Reflection

Coming back from the summer is always an adjustment, but an exciting time nonetheless. One of the more fun parts of returning to Old Nassau is hearing about all the incredible things friends have done during the summer months. It is also a great chance to hear more about the experiences offered to undergraduates here. In fact, that is what led me to how I spent my summer.

After hearing about some of my upperclassmen friends discuss their experiences, I ended up pursuing the Martin A. Dale ’53 Summer Award. Every year, the Office of the Dean of the College selects 12-15 sophomore applicants to spend the summer working on their proposed projects. The unique aspect of the award is that all of the proposed projects must be non-academic and focused on self-growth. By accepting the award, students are encouraged to take at least eight weeks away from the rigorous sphere of academia and structured internships to interact with the world in various ways and make space for self-reflection.

Some of the successful projects this year include a friend of mine working to gain his family’s citizenship of the Cherokee nation, reaching the summit of Mt. Denali in Alaska and exploring what queer parenting looks like around the globe. My project was focused on exploring the cuisine of the French-African diaspora. Coming from an African American background, food has long been a way for me to understand my family’s history. With my six years of French education, I went off to explore how other groups relate their food to their cultural cuisine.

I learned that the Martiniquais cuisine carried heavily elements of traditional French cooking such as the use of creams and meats. However, some key differences I noticed was the heavy reliance upon seafood, use of seasonings and incorporating side dishes. Moroccan food had similar differences, but with a greater usage of non-bovine livestock as opposed to seafood. Meanwhile, traditional French food capitalizes on France's plentiful grazing space to embrace cuts of beef and foul in the cuisine.

The project took me to Martinique, the South of France and Morocco. All throughout, I ate some incredible foods- learning a multitude of family recipes, spoke with a variety of individuals about identity and engaged in some incredible personal reflection. At the end of my summer, I was left grappling with questions on patriotism and racial identity and a plethora of memories.

Princeton offers an inordinate amount of summer opportunities to us undergraduates, often with opportunities for funding to reduce financial hardship. But, this awards embodies a special part of the Princeton community, an emphasis on growing together and encouragement to have new experiences.

Being Independent at Princeton

An iconic part of the Princeton experience is the illustrious eating club, or rather, 11 eating clubs. Usually, if someone outside of the "Orange Bubble" is asking me about Princeton, they’ll mention an eating club. However, what many people tend to forget is that there are other systems in place so students can eat: staying on the dining hall plan, joining a co-op or being independent (currently the system I am using). Choosing the independent dining option at Princeton means that you have the ability to arrange your own dining. This means that you can cook on your own, eat at other campus dining places or eat at local resaturants.

Before starting my junior year, I was nervous about being independent. I never had to cook for myself, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for such a big step. My sister teased me and said I would starve, so it wasn’t looking great on the homefront in regards to support, either. Nevertheless, I packed the car with the bare minimum of kitchen supplies I thought I would need; I knew I would be using a hall kitchen, so I couldn’t bring everything I was using at home.

My parents brought me to the grocery store on move-in day, and I stocked up for the week. Very quickly, I realized I was going to have a hard time; I had never even been to the grocery store by myself, and now I had to become celebrity chef Rachael Ray overnight! I knew I had to learn, and fast. Here are a few things I have found useful during my short time dining as an independent student thus far:

If you have a friend with a car on campus, bribe them with snacks and see if they will drive you to the store. If not...
The Weekend Shopper, a campus shuttle, that runs every Saturday and Sunday takes you to a variety of places, including Whole Foods, Wegmans, Walmart and Trader Joe’s. It’s free and easy to figure out!
Join the Free Food listserv. Princeton has free food everywhere, all the time. Sometimes you can even find full meals through it! Other times, you can find a nice snack. Either way, it’s definitely something to make use of!
Independent students get two dining hall meal swipes per week, so make use of them!
There are a few quick, relatively affordable options on Nassau Street if you’re looking to treat yourself (i.e., Tacoria, Jammin’ Crepes, Olives, Panera, Qdoba and more). Use this option sparingly; the costs add up!
If you have friends in eating clubs, they get a few guest swipes per semester!

I am sure I will learn more as the days go by!

What Does an "Average Student" at Princeton Look Like?

As a tour guide, prospective students often ask me to describe an “average Princeton student.” It is a difficult question to answer not only because my experience and my perspective on this question cannot be considered representative of the multitude of experiences and perspectives of students on this campus but also because I have found that there are very few characteristics that all students here share.

While I do not believe that there is an “average Princeton student,” I do believe one characteristic that many Princeton students share is intellectual passion and curiosity. We are all curious about different things but we are all passionately curious about SOMETHING.

While I am incredibly passionate about the history of political thought, Cold War history, art and The Odyssey, some of my closest friends are passionate and curious about other things. For instance, some are interested in the impact of educational levels and socioeconomic status during childhood on future investment decisions, the history and promotion of authoritarian regimes, sociology and architecture or Very Large-Scale Integrated (VLSI) Systems.

While we learn from professors and scholars in the classes that we take here, we also have the opportunity to learn from each other. From students who grew up in the town of Princeton to students from all across the world—Lesotho, Syria, Turkey, the Netherlands or South Africa. Then there are students studying molecular biology with passions for dance and choreography, and Computer Science students who are also members of the Princeton University Orchestra or students studying Religion and also pursuing certificates in Statistics and Machine Learning. Some students are the first member of their family to attend college and others grew up attending Reunions at Princeton as children of alumni. Diversity looks like a lot of different things, but it is precisely these forms of diversity that makes Princeton such a vibrant community for students to learn.

This diversity of thought and experience contributes to Princeton’s vibrant culture of intellectual curiosity. Everyone I meet here is passionately curious about SOMETHING, but the diversity of our experiences and interests means that there is always something to learn from each other.

Vote100!

Over the summer and into the 2018-2019 school year, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students teamed up with the Undergraduate Student Government and our resident political organization, the Whig-Cliosophic Society to launch an exciting voter engagement campaign. Vote100 became the name of the initiative, referencing the goal to have 100% undergraduate student engagement in the 2018 midterm elections and all future elections for which students are available. The initiative encourages students to take an online pledge to engage in the voting process which is to increase the likelihood that students vote. With our informal motto of “…service of humanity,” there’s a calling for Princetonians to engage with our basic tool, voting, in the democratic process. In fact, the University hosts an on-campus polling location on election days.

The campaign also encourages international students and non-New Jersey natives to vote in their home country elections, encourage their eligible peers to vote, or vote in their home state via absentee ballot. To kick off the initiative, Vote100 hosted “Stand Up and Vote,” a comedy special on the first day of classes. Former host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, even showed up as a surprise for the students!

The campaign has been the embodiment of campus engagement. Every week of the semester so far, students from all walks of campus life and political ideologies have come together to help students pledge and register to vote in Frist Campus Center. Regardless of who people vote for, there is a community recognition of our obligation to give back as Princeton students and to become active participants of civil society.

Time Flies

“Time flies.” We’ve all heard it before, especially when you’re having fun. But regardless of how often you hear the phrase, you are rarely ever prepared for the moment when you realize half of your Princeton University career is gone.

I remember moving in to campus as a first-year student, fresh-faced and eager to experience all Princeton had to offer me. I joined way too many clubs, took classes in departments I had never heard of, went on University-sponsored trips and made some amazing friends. You could say I was having fun.

So it came as a surprise when I began to realize just how much time had flown by without me noticing. After two wonderful years, I am now jumping into the deep end of a pool full of junior papers, research seminars, challenging classes for my concentration and being on an independent meal plan, where I am reponsible for providing my own meals. With only two years remaining, I’ve decided I need to take advantage of every single opportunity that makes Princeton, in my opinion, "the best damn place of all." Here are a few of those opportunities for those of you who, like me, want to make the most of your time at college:

Go on trips sponsored by your residential college. I went apple picking with some friends in my first year, and it’s still one of my fondest memories.
See a Broadway show, also through a residential college. I grew up in New York, very close to Manhattan, so I saw a lot of Broadway shows growing up. It’s definitely something that I miss, and it makes me think of home.
Go to more dance shows. The student body at Princeton is full of incredible talent, and supporting friends is always a good idea.
Explore Nassau Street. Princeton is situated in a cute small town that reminds me a lot of where I grew up. Exploring the area and discovering the local businesses is a fun adventure to experience with friends!
Go to more lectures/conferences. Last year, I went to my first lecture and heard Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Sonia Sotomayor talk about her life, including her time at Princeton. It was amazing to see such a successful woman and alum. It got me even more excited for the future.
Attend more athletic events. The athletics department is extensive and talented, and it is an intrinsic part of most people’s college experience. And, of course, I love supporting my school!
Go to office hours more often. One of Princeton's strongest qualities is its wealth of amazing professors. Not only are office hours beneficial because you can learn something, but they are also an opportunity to get to know your professors, and making connections is always worthwhile!

This is a short list, and it definitely does not include everything I want to do here, but it’s a great place to start!

Returning from Bridge Year

One of the characteristics of the Bridge Year Program that surprises many people is that there isn't any formal academic coursework (besides language training). It is a year away from learning in the classroom and instead is focused on its core value of experiential service learning. This is a really valuable thing to do, but some people have asked me if this year away from academics makes it hard to return to school in the fall as a first-year student.

My experience in Brazil, a former Bridge Year location, was just the opposite. Far from making it harder to adapt back to academic study, I was excited to get back into the classroom! The senior year grind of college applications had left me a little cynical about my studies, but a gap year totally dissipated that feeling. A year away from homework and tests, was spent focusing on the real world. It gave me context and meaning to the work I am doing at Princeton. On top of that, with less time and high school curricula restrictions, I was free to read about and research topics during my Bridge Year that I was naturally drawn towards — which gave a lot of clarity to my thought about course selection when I finally arrived on campus.

Bridge Year is definitely not a vacation — we worked hard and learned a lot. But we were learning about the world and about ourselves. These lessons proved to be incredibly helpful when I arrived on campus. Far from making it hard to return to the classroom, my gap year experience greatly improved the quality of my academic work and life in my first year at Princeton.

The Chapel

Whenever I walk into the Princeton University Chapel, I feel small.

That’s the point, I think. I’ve long thought that all these ancient, massive cathedrals are designed that way to make you aware of how small you are in the face of the eternal, of the divine. And the Chapel is more akin to a cathedral than whatever comes to mind when you think “chapel” — it’s the third-largest university chapel in the world, with an architectural style to match. So whenever I walk in, I am struck by how grand it is, and I feel small. In a good way.

The Chapel is one of my favorite places on campus. I spend every Sunday morning there, singing in the weekly non-denominational worship service as part of the Chapel Choir. In the first week of my first year, I and all the other first-years attended the Opening Exercises for the Class of 2021, right there in the Chapel. I loved the ceremony of it, the grandeur, everything from the kites in the procession to the stately robes worn by the faculty to the hymns the Chapel Choir sang. That was when I decided I wanted to spend more time in the Chapel, and audition for the Chapel Choir.

The Chapel is home to a number of other important events in the University calendar, among them the Baccalaureate Service at graduation and the Service of Remembrance to commemorate alumni who have passed in the last year. But for me my favorite moments in the Chapel are those Sunday mornings spent in song and quiet reflection, the morning light streaming through the magnificent stained glass windows.

Sports and Recreation

As a lifelong fan of sports in general, and NCAA football and basketball in particular, one (albeit minor) concern I had coming to Princeton was that there wouldn't be many other students who shared my interest. While it is certainly the case that Princeton’s home football and basketball games, for instance, typically don't bring students out in masses to attend, I think my concern was for the most part misplaced.

For one, Princeton has 37 varsity men's and women's sports teams, all of which compete at a high level, without neglecting the "student" portion of student-athlete. In my first two years, a number of Princeton teams have brought home Ivy League Championships*, including football, which shared the title with UPenn in 2016, and men's and women's basketball, who won Ivy League Championships in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Men's basketball near upset of Notre Dame in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament got the attention of even the most normally disinterested students..

Also, there are a plethora of organizations on campus for those interested in either participating or covering sports. In addition to the varsity athletics programs, Princeton offers another 38 club sports teams, and a variety of intramural sports offerings in each part of the year. There are usually some quality pick-up basketball games running on the Dillon Gym courts as well. For those more interested in analyzing sports than playing them, there's the Princeton Sports Analytics club, as well as the Daily Princetonian sports section, where I've worked for two years (and we're always looking for new writers!).

So while nobody is going to mistake Princeton stadium for "The Big House" (University of Michigan football stadium's nickname) or Jadwin Gym for Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke University's basketball stadium), I hope I've shown it's still good to be a sports fan at Princeton.

*Editor’s Note: Our football team finished up the 2018-19 season with a perfect 10-0 record, resulting in an Ivy League championship. To continue the celebration Princeton partakes in a long time tradition of a bonfire. This bonfire only takes place if our football team beats both Harvard and Yale in the same season. It truly brings out a strong showing of students. Check out the highlights here.

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