Starting college in a pandemic
By Jill Rodgers
Given the unique circumstances of this year, it was more important than ever for Open Rivers to be active in our goal to support students. The Open Rivers Scholarship was founded in 2017 to encourage and support women in STEM fields, and has provided scholarships to 8 remarkable women featured on our newly relaunched scholarship page.
We recently caught up with two of this year’s scholarship recipients, Danielle DaSilva and Sophia Chiaia, to learn about their goals in college, what they’re passionate about, and how the pandemic and subsequent response has influenced their plans.
After a long search for the best fit for her goals and preferred college environment, Danielle is excited to begin her college experience at Elon University. Knowing that she wanted a smaller school in North Carolina after touring larger universities with her older sister, she found that Elon had everything she was looking for, saying it has “a good balance of academic and non-academic activities, a strong volunteering platform, and small enough to allow me to make more of an impact and have my voice heard”. Although Danielle commented “I wasn’t sure originally what I wanted to study in college” she now plans to major in mathematics with a possible double major in business, saying “I always enjoyed math classes!” Danielle is also in the Honors Program, a four-year program that provides Honors Fellows with challenging courses, research opportunities, funds to study abroad and a yearly scholarship.
Outside of academics, Danielle has a deep concern for the environment which stems from “personal experience with dairy and beef sensitivity and learning about how food production really impacts the environment”. Due to her need to be careful about what she eats, Danielle learned about the true cost of certain foods, such as the animal industry, and now she grows her own produce.
Our second scholarship recipient, Sophia, is also conscious about her food choices and their impact on the environment. As a child, she “loved being outside, playing with insects and digging in the dirt”. As she got older her love for the environment transitioned to “hikes, and appreciating and understanding what we waste” and says that “I became aware of my carbon footprint”. As a result, Sophia became a vegetarian in response to the impact of the meat industry on the environment. In her free time, Sophia continues to foster her love of the outdoors, especially in this past summer season.
This fall, Sophia will be studying biology at Western Connecticut State University, where she received a full scholarship. She’s excited about the opportunity to stay close to home and still be involved on campus. Though she plans to pursue a research career in biology, Sophia hopes to use college to help figure out her path, torn between her interest in “molecular biology and seeing life at a cellular level and also the environmental side”. Her biology lecture has now transitioned to online, and Sophia comments that it is “not great, but I am still very excited about it”. She also plans to get an on-campus job, a wish that has been put on hold for the time being as re-opening is continuing to proceed carefully.
Due to the current pandemic, colleges and universities have made significant changes to protect their students, staff and faculty, leaving the status of campus life, from sports and clubs to community programs, up in the air. Despite the uncertainty about what will be active in the fall semester, both Danielle and Sophia are excited to be on campus and start classes. Coming from a small high school, Danielle says, “I am really looking forward to getting on campus and meeting new people”. Similarly, Sophia is excited to get involved in college clubs and programs. Living at home, Sophia was looking forward to being on campus, meeting classmates, and fully immersing herself in the college experience. However, as a result of the necessary changes made to protect the health and safety of the community, all her electives and large courses are now remote, and in-person classes require masks and social distancing. Though she states, “I am worried about trying to meet new people while taking online classes,” she still plans to (safely!) join organizations on campus. She specifically has an interest in student government which she was active in during high school and finds, “student government keeps you in tune with everything going on in a college” and can help her stay connected.
Though the pandemic has shaped their college experience into something unexpected, both Danielle and Sophia are excited and determined to make the best out of it. While Open Rivers is proud to support women in STEM and serve as a resource, we are uniquely grateful to meet with and talk with young women who are motivated to get the most out of their experiences. We wish Danielle and Sophia the best at college and with all of their endeavors.
The Open Rivers Scholarship is awarded yearly to graduating high school women pursuing higher education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The Scholarship was founded by Open Rivers Founder Shefali Mehta to support young women from her alma mater, Bethel High School in Bethel, Connecticut. For more information on the scholarship and previous awardees, visit our scholarship webpage.