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First-Year Interviews
November/December 2009
Interviews by Cathy Shufro
Photographs ©Mark Ostow

I feel like I’ve been here for a long time, because my older sister went to Yale. She graduated in 2006.

Where is she now?

She’s going to grad school to get a PhD in education policy and analysis at Stanford.

Did she change while she was at Yale?

A lot. She came to Yale with limited experiences and left with great friends, professors she looked up to, and a much better understanding of the world around her. She’s hoping to help make public education in America a more viable option for kids who want to go to a place like Yale. Because we didn’t go to public school. Our [public] school was just not an option if we wanted to get the education that our parents hoped for us.

How do you think you’ll change in the next four years?

I don’t want to know how I’ll change yet. I want it to be a surprise.

How are things going so far?

I’ve been very impressed with the people in my class. Certainly from the number of people I’ve met who are interested in social entrepreneurship, sustainability, public sector work, military service, it’s clear this is not just a school for high finance and banking and consulting.

What’s the difference between how you feel now and how you felt as a Yale freshman?

I feel that while coming to business school is a whole new world, actually I have less to prove. As an undergraduate, Yale seemed so mighty and imposing. Now I know it’s full of smart, creative, exciting people, but those people are opportunities from which to learn and grow. And being more comfortable in myself, I know what I want to get out of those relationships. But it’s great to be back in New Haven.

How long have you been here?

Just a week.

What is surprising here?

In China, when you go on the street, everywhere you see people, people, people, people—all around. But New Haven is just … empty!

When you graduate in three years, in what ways will you be different as an artist?

There is a difference between Chinese graphic design education and American education. In China, students are told [how] to do the design work. But here, I want to be a special person. I will be an independent designer.

Did you bring anything with you to remind you of home?

This pendant is my little baby monster. It’s jade and its name is Xiao Bai, Little White Thing. It brings luck to me. My mother sent it to me as a birthday present when I was 16. I never leave it home: it’s my friend.

I started my own theater company up in northern Michigan, and I’m in the theater management program to acquire the business acumen to succeed in such a venture.

What is the name of your company?

Parallel 45.

What will you be performing?

Our Town. It’s one of my favorite plays. I love the idea that in order to appreciate life, you have to experience death. You have to understand loss.

How did you understand that at your young age?

I think maybe a small amount of loss gave me an idea—an appropriate amount of loss for my young age.

What do you look forward to at Yale?

I’m looking forward to [working with] my four mentors: Ed Martenson, he’s the head of the theater management program; and Vicki Nolan, who runs Yale Rep, and Joan Channick and Anne Trites. I’m very excited about all four of them. I’m not just saying that in case they might see this.

Has anything surprised you about being here?

It’s way more laid back than I expected. I thought everyone was just very competitive and just all intent on academics. But they also seem to like the arts and extracurriculars.

What about outside the classroom?

I want to join Groove, the ballet-jazz-hip-hop dance group, and club swimming, and maybe the Yale College Council and the Black Men’s Union. I really want to do theater, but I’ve heard theater here is very competitive. I don’t even know if I’m a good actor or not. I’ll have to see.

Did your parents give you any advice when you were leaving, or did anybody give you advice?

You know the big stereotype is Ivy League students are pretentious, and they think they know everything. They told me to “work hard and don’t come home being stuck up.”

Where did you shop for a ski jacket in Jackson, Mississippi?

I didn’t get a ski jacket. I just got a trench coat and a pea coat.

What kind of misconceptions or stereotypes do people have about the South?

They think we’re all poorly educated. And we’re conservative and small-minded. Which is true some of the time. There are a lot of conservatives in the South. Clearly I’m not. I’m like a big liberal. … I’m a big proponent for gay marriage. And they probably think we’re uncivilized. But actually my roommate’s mother commented that she thinks I have better manners than her own son, so it’s clearly not the case.

What do people say when you tell them you’re getting a PhD in philosophy?

A lot of people say the same thing: that sounds pretty crazy hard. But people are receptive and interested. They ask what I’ll do with it after, and teaching is one obvious answer but not necessarily the only one. I think most people are impressed, which is good.

I have been told by quite a few friends that I’m lucky to be able to do this. Being able to study after undergraduate—to continue studying—is a gift. Especially because I’m here with financial support from the school. I’m very fortunate for that.

My dad is also a university professor so he was pretty pumped that I want to do a PhD as well. I think he thought this would be the last thing I wanted to do.

Why?

ust growing up in a household of teachers, I think he thought I would rebel or something. That didn’t end up happening. I’ve always liked school.

What do you look forward to?

I am excited for starting classes tomorrow, meeting the other incoming students in my department, getting to know my professors more. I met them when I visited here in the spring. I’m excited to finally get to take their courses. I’m excited to explore New Haven. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the town. … I’ve encountered lots of nice restaurants, cute stores, and I don’t know that I necessarily was expecting any of that. I like it here.

Does it make you nervous going into the lottery [for studio space] and wondering which studio you will get?

I have a special one in mind, but I’m pretty flexible. I’m excited to just start working.

When will you start painting?

Maybe tonight, depending if we get our studios. Or tomorrow.

Are your parents worried about your ability to survive financially as an artist?

Slightly…They’re both business-oriented. But I guess coming here, they kind of didn’t have anything to say. “OK, You’re going to Yale.” So I guess they’ll leave me alone about finances for a while. … I’ve been doing artwork since I was four.

Did you have any trepidation about moving to the Northeast?

I did. I heard that the people weren’t as friendly, coming from Texas, but I haven’t really encountered that.

What will you miss?

Good Mexican food and maybe the desert sunsets.

What have you seen here that you have found beautiful?

Trees in general. I’m not used to being around so many trees.

Do you speak Spanish?

Yes.

Have you found people around here who speak Spanish?

My roommate speaks Spanish. She’s a second-year. And then there’s another new first-year, she’s from Mexico City. I definitely miss speaking Spanish—or Spanglish.

What do you look forward to?

Just being in a new atmosphere—I was needing to get out of Texas. Meeting interesting people. I’m excited to see what my work will become. There’s going to be a change: sometimes your work just has to change, and it’s for the better.

What are your interests?

I’m interested in working in late 19th-century, early 20th-century African American history.

Has anything surprised you about New Haven?

I actually haven’t been here very long.

About Yale?

I guess I find everyone at Yale very friendly and approachable. I didn’t know quite what to expect.

Did anyone give you advice as you headed off to grad school?

Just to make sure that I keep my eyes on the goal in terms of the dissertation and to have fun along the way. To make sure I get to know my fellow peers just as well as I do the professors I will be working with.

Why is that important?

I see Yale as an outstanding place to learn from peers just as much as I would from my professors and advisors. Many of my fellow students have had really outstanding
research experiences. They have very interesting research interests for their dissertations, so I’m certainly look forward to getting to know how they develop their topic, where they would like to go with it, the types of things they would like to do with it afterwards.

What did you do before coming to Yale?

I just finished up a master’s degree in higher education management at Harvard I really enjoyed the program.

What has surprised you so far?

The first day I have been to the library. It’s amazing. Students can borrow 200 books at one time and for the period of half a year! It’s fantastic for academic research. I met with my professor to choose courses and he put so much attention into our courses, our future. He‘s a big name in history, but he still pays attention to our studies. I’m impressed by that.

Did you get any advice before coming here?

My former advisor gave me advice: It’s more important to live well than to become a big name in this field. The quality of life is much more important than academic achievement.

Did you bring anything special with you from China?

I brought some clothes made by my mother—skirts. And my grandma gave me this [bracelet] as a going away present: a jade bracelet. In Chinese culture, jade symbolizes purity. Purity means simple, sometimes naïve, not sophisticated. She wants me to remain as a little girl.

How will you be different when you finish your studies here?

I will be more mature in my attitude toward life, toward love, toward academic research, toward responsibility. I don’t know what life will be after seven years. … Right now I’m just focusing on my studies.

What were you doing before returning to school?

I worked with biofuels in Brazil. … I was living in São Paulo for the last 10 years. It’s a completely different experience. São Paulo is larger [than New Haven] and seems more like New York, while here seems to be a small city. I noted while walking around that I could meet friends in stores and on the streets.

I think the greatest thing here is the diversity. I’m happier with this kind of situation than I would be in an environment with people only with my background and my focus. I think I can learn more with different people with different experiences. There’s an amazing amount of things to explore here, including courses and research topics.

What do you look forward to here?

I have high expectations of the American style of education at Yale. You go deeper in the problems. You have more resources to explore, more tools to work with. You have better facilities. You have better faculty. You have an alumni group.

[In Brazil] you had a schedule which was fixed, and I couldn’t choose classes. I just came from a workshop where you had to pick your classes. That requires more maturity. It’s more challenging, but it compensates because you have a broader environment to explore.

I feel like I’m in a candy shop. I realized I have 23 options and I had to choose four!

What do you like about FES?

I am really excited about having a dynamic group of peers who are interested in the same issues: environmental change, social change, sustainability now and into the future.

What do you think of New Haven?

It’s a pleasant surprise. As I would have expected, it’s a fairly artistic and literary city, There’s a lot of fun outdoor options. It’s easy to get to the beach, to Lighthouse Point. I’m really excited about the Farmington Canal bike path, the possibility of biking all the way to Massachusetts. And even now biking to East Rock and West Rock Park.

What were you doing before coming here?

The last two years I’ve spent in India managing a non-profit that I started called the Indian Youth Planet Network. The group engages youth in policy-making matters with the government. Yale recently supported our cross-country tour in solar electric cars documenting solutions to climate change that India has developed. I’ve actually deferred this program [at FES] for the last two years.

What appeals to you about the program?

The best thing about being here is the incredible amount of resources and the ideas people bring here from all over the world. It’s going to create a really powerful network for change.

How does it feel to come here from India?

I feel like I’m a lot more car-dependent in New Haven, and every day doesn’t feel like a sense of adventure as it was in India. … The ambient chaos in India makes really beautiful moments that are difficult to replicate it the United States. I think they make you realize just how big the world is and its problems, and you realize you small you really are, in a larger picture with many lives going on around you. It’s kind of like a panorama.  

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