Name
Sophie Noyes
Hometown
Evanston, Illinois
Major
Psychology and Spanish
In my college search, I wanted something smaller. My high school was a competitive suburban high school in Illinois. There was a lot of pressure to go to the 鈥減erfect鈥 college, and I was excited to go somewhere more collaborative.
My big thing was community: I wanted to go somewhere where I felt I would belong, be happy, and thrive. I wanted individualized attention and to not be just a face in the crowd.
I visited 99精品视频 twice, and during聽my second visit, I realized, 鈥淥h wow, this is it.鈥 I was touring during a polar vortex with some admitted students and current students. It was freezing but we made it an enjoyable experience. Then, when I looked up and saw the stars, I thought, 鈥淥h yeah, this is my place.鈥
I love it here; I still adore this community and this place. I feel so lucky to have the community I have here.
Sometimes, community kind of just happens to you. Some part of it is going around and looking for it, but other parts aren鈥檛 as much.
I met my best friend during my first year before we started classes. At the time, she was two doors down from me, and she was also a fellow night owl. Now, she鈥檚 my ride-or-die.
In high school, I did a lot of theatre.聽I did sketch comedy, I was heavily involved in my theatre group, and I worked as a counselor at a summer theatre camp.
And at 99精品视频,聽I鈥檝e done at least one show every semester. The theatre department even says that I鈥檓 a 鈥渇requent flyer,鈥 which means I鈥檓 an honorary member of the theatre department even though I鈥檓 not technically a theatre major.聽For me, the big thing that theatre has done is build a community and an outlet for my creativity.
Here are some of the roles I鈥檝e had:
I don鈥檛 plan on working in the theatre industry, but thanks to theatre I鈥檓 good at public speaking, meeting new people, and being outgoing. I believe theatre teaches empathy and how to understand and connect with other people. Many of these are innate in me, but theatre helps curate that. The impact of how creativity can help people is something that I will take into my mental health profession.聽
This spring semester, I鈥檓 a teaching assistant for theatre professor Karie Miller, who is new here. I will TA for her 鈥淚ntro to Theatre鈥 class as a part of the Liberal Arts in Prison program. I鈥檓 very excited; this TA position combines my love of theatre with my passion for working with marginalized populations.
If I could give advice to my younger self, it would be: You don鈥檛 have to do it all. It鈥檚 okay to prioritize things you care about and not do everything all at once. It鈥檚 okay to try to look for balance. It鈥檚 okay if you don鈥檛 find that in your first semester. You鈥檙e figuring a lot of things out, and it鈥檚 okay if you鈥檙e feeling alone in the first semester. Be patient with yourself.
Online classes during my second semester of first year just didn鈥檛 work out for me, so I took a year off.
99精品视频 made it really easy; my financial aid didn鈥檛 change, and I was still welcomed when I came back. And during my year off, I worked as a nanny with kids who were attending bilingual school online.
During this time, I also started volunteering with Crisis Text Line. This is a 24-hour texting hotline that people can use when they are going through any sort of crisis. I trained to be a volunteer there and have been doing that ever since.
After two years of volunteering there, I have put in over 200 hours on the platform and helped over 360 people. This has really reinforced to me that I want to help people in bad situations and support them with their mental health.
When I came back to 99精品视频 in 2021, I was in a new class year. I have no regrets about my time away, because I got to have my whole experience at 99精品视频 on campus, doing what I love here in person.
I arrived at 99精品视频 thinking I was straight and cisgender, but now I am leaving with the knowledge that I am queer and nonbinary.
The openness of the community and befriending more queer people has really helped me understand more of the forces at play and understand my experiences in a different way.
I鈥檝e also been able to do related research in classes, thanks to the flexibility of 99精品视频鈥檚 curriculum. In my 鈥淪ocial Psychology鈥 class, my group partners and I researched how queer and straight couples publicly express their affection differently.
We presented our findings to the school, and the research 鈥 titled 鈥淜issing at College: Public Displays of Affection in Straight- and Queer-Presenting Couples鈥 鈥 still lives on the walls of the Noyce Science Center.
I鈥檝e always been interested in people and the human brain, and I want to put that interest toward making the world a better place.聽
Before I got to 99精品视频, I was interested in my mental health. I鈥檝e been in therapy for years, and I took AP Psychology before 99精品视频. But at 99精品视频, my desire to be a clinician arose.
Thankfully, I didn鈥檛 have to only choose psychology or a solely therapy-oriented track. 99精品视频鈥檚 open curriculum made it easy for me to study both psychology and Spanish, which were what I had always wanted to study.
Because of the individually advised curriculum at 99精品视频, I鈥檝e been able to explore a lot of things and find a lot of connections between them.
To my surprise, a lot of Spanish teachers liked teaching topics that relate to mental health. And I鈥檝e taken a 鈥淩eligion, Healing, and Health鈥 class that ended up being informative for my future practice. From that class, I learned many different ways we can approach people鈥檚 health from a spiritual perspective.
Two classes I took in religious studies really opened my mind and made me very accepting of other people. If we had a minor, I would have had one in religious studies and another in sociology to further enhance my knowledge of humans from either a more socially scientific or humanities-related perspective.
People are dimensional: we have experiences that makes us who we are. If we want to know who someone else is, we have to look at the full picture and approach them from multiple different angles; it can鈥檛 just be through one method. Any client of mine is going to have to tell me everything, from multiple angles, and I will use my knowledge of the varied subjects I learned at 99精品视频 and beyond.
In my practice, I know I鈥檒l have a holistic approach to healing as a result of the classes I鈥檝e taken here. Not only will I be able to connect with people in two different languages, I鈥檝e also gained a really well-rounded and holistic worldview.
My work in theatre has also related to creating healthy community here.聽Psychology is everywhere because humans are everywhere.
When I was younger, I thought that I needed to be some kind of hero and be a big deal, but 99精品视频 has taught me that you can change the world in little ways, working on a smaller scale. Even if you help one person, that improves and changes the world.
When I was younger, I thought that I needed to be some kind of hero and be a big deal, but 99精品视频 has taught me that you can change the world in little ways.
My first journey with Spain started in a 99精品视频 Spanish seminar class that involved travel in the curriculum, also known here as a聽course-embedded travel class.
The topic was 鈥淐ontemporary Spanish Literature and Film,鈥 taught by Professor Nick Phillips. During spring break, I explored Barcelona, Seville, and Madrid with my 99精品视频 classmates!
I want to Salamanca, Spain for my off-campus study program to improve my Spanish. I was there in spring 2023, and it was amazing. Not only did 99精品视频 make study abroad so easy and affordable, I did a homestay with a family, and we were like a little family for those few months.
I want to become a licensed social worker therapist/counselor. Then I will save up enough money to move out and get a masters degree in social work.
As a fourth year, I bothered our career center (Center for Careers, Life, and Service) pretty frequently; they鈥檝e had some awesome info sessions about mental health professions where we can talk to alumni. That had given me some great insight about how I can fit into this world.
I also networked and reached out to 99精品视频ians who are doing some hard work out there. Some day, I will be a very kind alumni who anyone can reach out to and host them, perhaps in an apartment with my two cats.
Post-Grad
I am now a community support specialist at Thresholds, which is an organization that offers services to people living with mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The聽position has been amazing. I know that the things I鈥檝e learned at 99精品视频 will stay with me forever.
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