Where are you from?
What is your favorite field of study/topic?
What is something you would like people to know about you as a student?
Former Provost Holloway said, “Take every opportunity to be excellent.” I’m a good student, but I’m striving to be not only the type of student but the type of man who embodies this directive toward excellence.
What does being a part of NPEP mean to you?
It means regardless of all the outside forces that seeped into my consciousness causing me to believe otherwise, I’ve always belonged here as a part of this university.
What course has had the biggest impact on you and why?
It was a tie between chemistry and math, two courses that historically I fled from in fear. I chose to fight over flight and was victorious. It was important for my self-esteem and the willpower I’m going to need for my life’s work.
What is your favorite book or article that you have read in your NPEP classes?
Gloria Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands/La Frontera.” The way she dissected the conflicts of identity spoke to my own lifelong struggle with identity. Brilliant and artful writing. The final paper I did based on this reading was a great exercise in self-analysis and discovery.
What assignment (paper, project, homework) have you found the most rewarding?
This would have to be the final oral presentation in chemistry. As a lifelong introvert, I have elaborate fantasies of being a great orator, but that’s the stage in my head. I was terrified. I poured over all the information but still didn’t feel like I had it down pact (by the way it was on polymers, shout out to Riki, Ollie, and Lee) but when I got in front of the class, it just flowed out of me and I didn’t even use the index cards! It was a step towards, potentially, my destiny.
André’s Featured Work:
André’s article “The Ultimate Price,” published in Belt Magazine:
André’s article “Whole Foods, Black Wall Street, and My 13-inch Flat Screen TV,” published in PraxisCenter:
André’s final essay for his Border Literature class:
André’s sociological autobiography: