Keerthi’s Life at UConn

Hey everyone, Patrick here.

And I am here to talk about one of my Colleagues at the Lodewick Visitors Center, Keerthi. She comes from a unique background having been born in Bangalore, India

Bangalore, India - Shopping District

and moved to the United States when she was barely a year old. She has kept her sense of the homeland and even knows Telugu, her hometown’s language, fluently enough to be able to read and write.  She still sings traditional Indian songs.

When she was in high school and looking at colleges, she knew she wanted a school close to home but not in her home state of Massachusetts. She also wanted a larger school that offered many different majors because she was unsure of what she wanted to do. After applying to a few New England state schools, she wisely decided on the University of Connecticut.

Moving in freshman year to the Northwest Residence Halls, she quickly made friends, four of whom she continued to live with through sophomore year. To Keerthi, the adjustment from living with her parents to living on her own in college was a hard transition. Thankfully UConn has a course specifically designed to help freshman out with this very problem – First Year Experience, or FYE class.

She got through her first semester without a hitch and decided to explore the multitude of opportunities offered at UConn. She got involved with the Student Union Board of Governor’s (SUBOG) Concert Committee and helped set up (and clean up) for the Ludacris and B.O.B. concert. When the concert was over, she even got to meet B.O.B. She also was involved with Area Council which sets up events and trips for her residence area. Finally, and most importantly, she was hired at the Lodewick Visitors Center.

More recently she was involved the alternative winter break to Birmingham, Alabama. This trip was designed to get students more aware of social challenges facing our own nation. While she was down there, Keerthi helped an underprivileged family by painting their house and cleaning up inside. She also visited a tornado supply warehouse which had been emptied and refilled 15 times since last May. On her last day she visited an inner city school and saw what life was like for the students.  From this experience she became aware of how hard life is for some people and was motivated enough to join in Big Brothers Big Sisters this semester.

Keerthi is always trying to do more and help people. She still has two more years to explore all of the different opportunities at UConn – one of her college goals. One of her Eventually, she hopes all of these college experiences will prepare her to join the Peace Corps. From the looks of it – Keerthi is on the the right track!