The Beginning of the Life of Jessica!

Jess and some of her swim teammates!

Greetings everyone; Whitney here!

One of my favorite parts of working at the Lodewick Visitors Center is getting to meet so many amazing people, whether they are on my tours or my co-workers.  One of my passions in life is to listen to other people’s stories, because everyone has such a unique an individual experience.   Just the other day I had the opportunity to talk to one of my fellow colleagues Jessica, and I am here to tell you her story.

Jess grew up in Hartford, CT and later moved to Bloomfield, CT.  She went to the Kingswood Oxford School, a daytime college- and life-preparatory school located in West Hartford, CT.  In high school she was involved in many things including the varsity swim team, which took up most of her time, and the Green Team; an environmental awareness organization helps emphasize what each individual can do to be more “green.”  Jess swam competitively for 10 years and she absolutely

loved it.  She didn’t just swim to stay in shape but also because as she says, “the thrill of racing is second to none.”  Jess was also a tourguide at Kingswood Oxford, something that led her to apply for her position here at the LVC!

Like many high school students Jess started looking at colleges the summer before her senior year.  Originally she thought she wanted to go to California, but when she visited a few schools out there, she realized the atmosphere wasn’t exactly what she wanted.  Like many Connecticut residents Jess didn’t originally want to come to UConn; campus, which is only a half hour drive from her house;

seemed a little too close.  But then she visited campus and fell in love.  She felt like she could see herself as an UConn student and she began to change her mind.  Then, we were her first acceptance and eventually she decided that this was the school for her!

Jess came in as a pre-med Biology major, and in her first semester she specialized to Physiology and Neurobiology.  She loves the science, cognitive learning, and mechanistic subject matter that come along with a pre-medical tract.  She could see herself becoming a doctor because of her love for helping people; so at first her major seemed like a perfect fit.  Then Jess realized that not all of the subject matter was fun anymore and so she met with an Honors ACES (Academic Center for Exploratory Students) advisor and discussed her options.  When asked why she wanted to change her major she said; “it’s like when you are watching something really interesting on the Discovery Channel, and while you enjoy watching, at the end of the day you could still change the channel and walk away.”  What did she decide to do you might ask?  Well, for that answer you will have to read Alex’s next blog post!