Hi, my name is Salina! I’m a senior majoring in Biology, on the pre-physician assistant track, and I’m from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’m really excited to share with all of you what I’m involved with at Scripps, how I choose to go to Scripps, and my favorite parts of going to Scripps. In addition to my role as an Admissions Ambassador, I am president of the Eritrean and Ethiopian Student Association and co-president of the Without A Box Improv Troupe. I worked as a barista in the Motley and teacher-assisted in General Chemistry Lab.
When I was looking for colleges, I really didn’t know where to start except for being adamant about going out-of-state. My older sister, who went to a historically women’s college, advised me to research women’s colleges because she gained a lot of confidence in her STEM classes from being in an environment that empowered her as a black woman. This really resonated with me and when I found Scripps, I was head over heels for the Californian Liberal Arts, women’s college experience. It was when I first stepped on-campus during Admitted Students Day that I got a real look at how interconnected the students were and how, although these four years weren’t going to be the perfect, idealized image I had in my head, I would have a support system that I could go to for help.
My favorite class was my Core 3 class: Caribbean Women’s Literature. It was very informative about the intersectional struggle black, latina women go through in pieces such as “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys, and “An Untamed State” by Roxanne Gay. The books we read covered a wide and diverse array of Caribbean women which was a bit overwhelming but our professor, who is a Caribbean woman herself, was able to emphasize the connecting themes and historical connotation behind the novels. Due to it being a Core class, there were only a handful of Scripps students in the class which made the lessons much more impactful. My high school education was very focused on white, American history and literature and I found it really refreshing to learn about the experiences, passions, and pain of women who look like me.
Going to Scripps has allowed me to really grow and flourish in a community that emphasizes supporting others and being passionate about change. I have been able to go through my biology major without only taking science courses which really helped me stay grounded in what healthcare and scientific research was for and how interconnected it was to the humanities and arts. The small class sizes fostered close connections with fellow students and the professor which made going to office hours and asking for help much easier than if it was a 100+ class. Being pre-PA prioritizes finding clinical and patient care hours and with the close-knit 5C- community, I’ve been able to find many different opportunities in the most unlikely of places. I hope to be as impactful and helpful in prospective students’ and underclassmen’s Scripps life as previous upperclassmen have been to me.
If you want to learn more about mine and others’ Scripps experiences, check out the rest of the blog! Feel free to ask me any questions by sending me an email [email protected]