In Their Words: Cameron Elliott

Name: Cameron Elliott

Department: Social Sciences

College: Stevenson

What Award/ Scholarship did you receive? The Valerie Fuette Scholarship in Politics

What year do you expect to graduate? 2020

Where do you call home? I’m from San Diego, but I also consider Santa Cruz home as well.

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? UCSC wasn’t my first choice, I had a rough time in high school health wise and was only able to come out with a 3.6 UC GPA. UCSC was the best school that accepted me. I had never visited prior to applying but did so after I was accepted and felt comfortable committing. I got a good vibe from the campus despite it being different from the college experience you would get anywhere else and took a leap of faith and I’m glad I did. 

UCSC has provided me with every opportunity I could want as a Politics major, I am very grateful for being able to attend this school.

What is your field of focus? I am a Politics and Psychology double major, but I definitely favor Politics.

What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz? I want to make a difference in the world in some capacity but I have no idea what that is going to look like right now. I am extremely idealistic and am exploring the different political routes such as working on campaigns, running for office, or becoming a lawyer. I’ll have it figured out within the next year.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here? Most of them are intensely political but here's a goofy one instead: As a freshman, some friends and I got back late from a concert at the Catalyst and were hanging out in the Stevenson library early in the quarter when nobody was studying and decided to turn the lights off and play hide and seek. It was pitch black at 3:00 am and I was an absolutely unstoppable shadow of the night. Round after round everyone failed to find me and there were rounds where they gave up and just had the new seeker start while I remained in the same hiding place.

What is your one piece of advice for incoming students about life at UC Santa Cruz? Try out everything you can, have high energy and put yourself out there as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t think of failure as failure. When you get denied something move on to the next opportunity. Fail often because you only need to succeed a few times in order to excel. Have a mindset of optimism and don’t let anyone’s negativity reach you.

How will this scholarship/award impact your academic life/research? I will finally be able to buy a new laptop as my current one is 6 years old going on 7 and it is decrepit and about to die. It’s probably 96 in laptop years. I will no longer be the only one without a computer at meetings and it’s going to be fantastic.