Letter from a Freshman to Her Senior Self
by Sarah Fox (Nature, Authentic, Family)
A few days ago, I was walking out of a Geology recitation talking the ear off an upperclassman. He nodded politely as I jabbered on about how cool all the solar system stuff we’d learned in class was. When we left the building, he turned and chuckled, “I can totally tell you’re a freshman.” When I asked why, he just smiled and said, “You’re still enthusiastic.”
Well, don’t I have reason to be? I have such an incredible expanse of opportunities ahead of me. Besides just socializing and adventuring in Philadelphia, I came here wanting to help save the environment. When I’m a senior, I still want to have this fire under my heel, this itching to do something meaningful.
Now this all sounds very general, and it is. But that’s also why I have four years here: to figure out exactly what I want to do. I love the environment with all my heart, but I don’t yet have the tools to fight for it. I want to leave here with a game plan, and the knowledge to make the Earth a more sustainable, beautiful place.
When I think about what I want to have accomplished by senior year, I don’t think of a checklist of clubs and classes. I want to be well versed about the world. I want to have the confidence to venture abroad, join the Peace Corps, throw myself into new situations without fear of failure. For now, I can barely figure out the SEPTA stations and which Le Anh’s I should be buying from.
So call me idealistic, I take it in stride. I hope to gain this knowledge and worldliness before I leave senior year. Here’s to making it happen.
Letter from a Senior to His Freshman Self
by Isaac Silber (Inquisitive, Musician, Poet)
Looking back on my freshman year, maybe there are people I wish that I hung out with more, clubs that I wish I joined earlier (or some not at all), classes I might not have taken, social circles I could have been more involved in. But my Penn career has been one long string of random events that have all led me towards a group of friends I genuinely love spending time with, professors whose wisdom and guidance I now can’t imagine being without, and a wide variety of exciting knowledge, on subjects ranging from micro–economics to the history of sexuality in the U.S.
Above all, my Penn experience has given me a sense of purpose in the world—a career path that I feel is completely grounded in who I am and how I want to contribute to our global community. I joined a fraternity, avoided OCR at all costs, drifted from Greek life and joined other clubs on campus. Through it all, I learned to trust myself and my gut above everything else.
It was this mindset that led me to become a camp counselor in New Hampshire during the summers after my Freshman and Sophomore year, something which helped me grow outside of the academic or career-oriented track. It helped me form a connection with a Jamaican musician, who inspired me to conduct field research in Kingston on Jamaican religious music.
I now know I want to be an ethnomusicologist, not only because of classes, but because I never stopped asking myself: Who am I? What makes me happy? What makes me, me? I wouldn't change a thing.
