Sam, Lippincott
Sam is a resident assistant for Lippincott Hall on Cook Campus. A sophomore from Clifton, N.J., he is majoring in exercise science.
On being a Resident Assistant (RA)...
I really liked how Resident Assistants (RAs) can get to know their residents while helping them with their transition to college. I had a rough transition my first semester of first year. I had a lot of really hard classes such as organic chemistry. This year, I feel like I’ve started getting into the groove of things. I learned how to study better and how to go to office hours. Since I had a tough transition during my first year, I wanted to be that support system for other upcoming first-year students and help them with their transition.
As an RA, I plan and host programs. Recently, I hosted a Mario Kart drunk driving program. We had a presentation talking about alcohol safety and partying tips. After the presentation, the students had the chance to play Mario Kart with drunk goggles. We then provided residents with resources including the public safety bus (Knight Mover), the Rutgers bus, Uber, and Lyft. I am a peer educator for the Health Outreach Promotion and Education organization (H.O.P.E.). As a peer educator, I teach Rutgers community members how alcohol impacts the body and how you can drink responsibly. To summarize, its teaching students on how stay safe.
Involvement on Campus…
I volunteer a lot. I’ve worked with Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA) where I have served as a site leader for two semesters. I got to lead a group of 30 people during the first semester. Most recently, I led a group of ten people and we volunteered at the Monmouth County Park. I’m also a part of the Office for Diversity and Academic Success in the Sciences (ODASIS). As a first generation student, ODASIS has been crucial in my academic journey because they have definitely helped me with my studies and introduced me to great advisers. Last year, another great opportunity I was a part of was Special Friends Day. I got paired up with a student with special needs in the New Brunswick area and we got to spend the whole day together. We did various activities such as coloring and swimming. Since the student was hearing impaired I was able to practice a lot of sign language.
On Exercise Science...
Currently, I’ve been taking classes for the exercise science pre-medical requirement. I really like the major because it’s a study on the whole body including the human mind. Eventually, I want to become a doctor and, out of all the possible fields, I feel exercise science fits me best. I really like how exercise science is based on learning about human behavior and its relationship with the rest of the body and muscle movements. I would like go to medical school in hopes of becoming a neurologist. I really like the neuro-psychology aspect of neurology. I want to focus on helping people with mental illness.
On Traveling and Culture...
My culture and my background is a big part of who I am. The first time I went to the Dominican Republic was during my sophomore year of high school. I got to meet all of my extended family for the first time. I got to stay with my great-grandparents on their farm. Being around people that were like me helped to strengthen my identity and culture. Last summer, I studied abroad in Spain for six weeks and that was honestly the best experience ever. I went to study at the University of Salamanca and took two Spanish courses. I got to meet people from all around the world, people from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, and different states from of the United States. We traveled on various tours through the different regions of Spain. It was really cool learning and understanding the history of the different cities in Spain. I’ve never been further from the United States and getting to go to a completely different continent was definitely nerve-wracking at first. As a result of these experience, I try to be involved with organizations like the Center for Latino Arts and Culture (CLAC).
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