Nicole Krenitsky

I began Vassar with the self-mandate that I would never again be involved in as many activities, clubs, and extra academic classes as I had been in high school. Whoops. I envisioned becoming more focused in college and learning how not to over-commit myself; but instead, I learned how the (perpetual) variety of endeavors I undertake support each other and make me who I am.

After taking a ballet class as a prospective student, I met with the chair of the Vassar's Dance Department. She told me the arts supplement I had submitted was sub-par and that the dance program at Vassar would definitely challenge me. At the time, it stung. I wrote her off as a little crazy, but I wanted to prove her wrong. Since then, I have come to appreciate her honesty and meticulousness which has made me a more mature dancer. My four years as a member of Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre have provided me with numerous opportunities to take the stage and the members of this company have become my family.

When I applied for the Undergraduate Research Summer Institute, the faculty member who interviewed me asked me why I had chosen a biomechanics lab. After I blabbed some incoherent nonsense, she summed up my interests perfectly: "Well, I think you applied because you're a dancer and a scientist and studying the biomechanics of fish allows you to investigate movement of another organism's body." Oh! This was perhaps the first concrete moment where I realized that sometimes faculty knew more about me than I could say myself, although it certainly wasn't the last. The lack of graduate students at Vassar permitted me to work closely with faculty on projects and publications and I am forever grateful for these opportunities to delve into the realities of scientific research.

I chose my major by perusing the course catalogue and highlighting the classes I thought sounded interesting. The largest number of bright green classes happened to be in the Science, Technology, and Society Program (STS) so the next day I met with the head of the program, filled out various colored forms, and became an STS major. I had no idea that it would provide me with the tools and the mentors to help me synthesize what had always been two cognitively dissonant forces in my head: the science behind medicine and the society it both resides within and actively affects.

Later in my sophomore year I traveled to Uganda to implement the first phase of a motorcycle ambulance program. My first foray into fieldwork simultaneously confirmed that I was interested in global health and underscored how much I had to learn. The following year, myself and another student led a team to Haiti to establish our own relationships and projects. These experiences in the field were just as important as those I had in the classroom and they were only possible because Vassar brought me into contact with other students who think like me. I was also able to take advantage of the funding mechanisms Vassar has to offer; I would venture to say I've taken the most advantage of those yearly activities fees we pay the institution.

I used my classes to investigate the field of global health from different perspectives. Most professors were receptive to my desire to have a hyper-focus within their syllabus. Others were not. I came to define a "good" professor by whether or not they took interest in me as a person, sought to further my interests and aknowledged that their class was just a brushstroke in a larger picture. I am so grateful to say that I've met many "good" professors here and a handful of them have forever changed how I think for the better.

When I got here, I knew I thought the world was messed up and that I wanted to change it but it was because of the four years in this place that I figured out why and how. Vassar has enabled me to grow. I was supposed to write something specific for this reflection and if this were my last assignment at Vassar, I'm pretty sure I would have failed to follow the prompt. But I just couldn't. To reflect on just one aspect would have been antithetical, perhaps even hypocritical. The reason why I've thrived at Vassar is because this environment has allowed me to do a million and one seemingly disparate things and find the connections between them, to understand how they are mutually reinforcing, and that is what I am most proud to take with me into the real world.

—Nicole Krenitsky is the outgoing president of ProHealth.