Be BOLD: A Look Back

In all of my tours and interviews, I always get the question “what would you recommend most to high school seniors and in-coming freshmen?” I think that the best thing I can say is be ready and willing to branch out and be BOLD. Tryout and audition for things you never thought you would do. Join that one club or take that one class that you’ve always thought about, but never had the courage to go for. As a freshman, I never imagined myself as a Senior Interviewer. I never imagined myself as the face of William & Mary. When I found out about the Senior Interviewer position, I told myself “Erin, you’re going to do this because it’s something that you would have never done as a freshman”. When I found out that I got the position, you couldn’t have paid me millions to wipe the smile off of my face. Looking back on the summer, I’m ecstatic that I had the courage to simply fill out an application because there are so many people I never would have gotten to meet, and so many experiences that I never would have gone through without this amazing job, and the beyond awesome people I was lucky enough to be surrounded by.

I would have never learned that Andrew is a neat-freak, or that Sam’s terrified of spiders. I would have never found out that Katie has the perfect way to survive through a zombie apocalypse, that Steve is indeed a doctor, or about Karthik’s crazy infatuation with Taco Bell. If I hadn’t interviewed for this position I never would have known that Philip has such awesome dance moves and I would have never heard Rebecca’s patented “teehee teehee”. I would have never seen Doug’s passion for basketball, or learned that Carter’s family is in fact, nothing like the von Trapp family. I never could have imagined how “extra” Jamar actually is and would have never learned about Aaron’s intense Scramble skills. Without this job I never would have gained another amazing set of parents in Wendy and Tish, or found out how beyond amazing and caring the entire Admissions staff is. This summer has been one of my absolute favorite experiences and I’m so thankful to everyone that has made it such. I think that this is one of the greatest examples of why being BOLD and trying things you’ve never dreamed of pays off, because those experiences could end up meaning the world to you.