Andria is a resident assistant in Morrow Suites on Busch campus. A senior from Matawan, N.J., she is majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry with a minor in sociology.
On becoming a resident assistant (RA)…
I was thinking about a way to meet all the residents and be part of them growing into Rutgers. I wanted to part of that and be there for people. I always feel like I’m mama bear for every situation I’m in. I’m usually one of the first people to jump in and find a way to organize things and I like to take on the protector role and people always like to point it out.
I now am a RA for the suites. Summer training was really long, but one of the best times I’ve had at college. Our staff has 12 very unique personalities that all really mesh well together. We got to know each other really quickly and we became close really fast. I’ve made lifelong friends being a RA.
On being an EMT…
My high school (Academy of Allied Health and Science) was for students that were interested in medicine. My senior year they offered an EMT course and I was able to get certified. My freshman year I was going home on the weekends to run with the squad. My sophomore year when classes started getting hard, I found that I couldn’t go home every weekend so I started running during my breaks.
On coursework…
For most of my life, I wanted to become a doctor. Before I came to Rutgers, there was an information session about the four life science majors. Molecular biology and biochemistry sounded the most interesting so I came to school already decided that’s what I wanted to study. Sociology was something I didn’t expect I would add. They added psychology and sociology sections to the MCATS, so I took both intro to psychology and intro to sociology.
On Teach for America…
I wanted to take a year off after college and do something before medical school, but I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do. I figured I would just get a job in the medical field and work for a year, but I got an email from a recruiter and received information about Teach for America. They reached out to me because of my leadership experience as an RA. They said they look for people on campus that have strong leadership qualities and recruit them. I decided to meet with the recruiter, was interviewed, and just got my acceptance.
I’ve always wanted to make an impact in low income areas. I’m looking into teaching middle school science in North Carolina. For the past two years, I’ve been working with What Matters For Kids, where we teach science classes to little kids. This year my schedule is more open and I was able to work during the school year and I teach science classes to kids age 4-5.
