In Their Words: Rachel Haderra Rosen

Name: Rachel Haderra Rosen

Department/ Major: Sociology

What Award/ Scholarship did you receive? Fanny Carruthers Sociology Scholarship

What is you anticipated graduation year: 2016

College: Kresge

Where do you call home? Santa Cruz! Home is San Carlos when I am not in Santa Cruz.

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? Besides being close to home which was a logistics issue. I chose to come to UC Santa Cruz because my community college advisor was an alumnus and greatly advocated for the campus. She mentioned how the school fostered community and a sense of happiness. After two years as a transfer student, I really cannot disagree with her. 

What is your field of focus? Sociology, but I had the intention of focusing on some of the psychology that went along with sociology.

What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz? I would really like to work for AmeriCorps and potentially continue to help in the university setting. Maybe even audit some classes if I can.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here? Listening to Wendy Martyna, Miriam Greenberg and Jenny Reardon’s lectures. All of which made class utterly enjoyable. Also, performing my test prayer on the Porter squiggle before every exam comes in at a close second. Oh, and the feeling of completing a final paper after working on it for five consecutive days.     

What is your one piece of advice for incoming students about life at UC Santa Cruz? Please please please, talk to your professors early on and often! Furthermore, it is a pretty good idea to make friends in your class, so you have peers to work with come exam time (just don’t talk during lecture). Lastly, take some risks. I regret not working with professors on their research projects. 

How will this scholarship impact your academic life /research? The Fanny Carruthers scholarship will be tremendously helpful in helping my pay for my summer school tuition, which is not fully covered like other quarters.