Hi, I’m Juliana! A junior Nursing major from Valley Stream, NY. I’ve lived on Long Island my whole life so I was pretty hesitant to apply to Hofstra (I’m saying, that escape route was on standby…). But one tour made me fall in love with this school’s campus and spirit and now I genuinely can’t see myself anywhere else! You can find me on campus at the gym struggling on the stair master, at the library calculating endless medication dosages or in Pride Park playing badminton with my friends. I’m made of music: singing, dancing and writing are my passions and I’m involved with one of the exclusive A Capella groups on campus! I advocate for students of color on campus through my work on an advocacy club e-board and further that work as a senator in the Student Government Association. As a Resident Assistant in one of the residence halls on campus, I focus on improving the campus experience, ensuring my residents feel supported and comfortable. I also extend this to incoming freshmen students, working as a Summer Orientation Leader on campus. I love Hofstra, let me tell you if you can too!!

Hometown

Valley Stream, NY

Major(s)

Nursing

Clubs, organizations & involvement

Student Government Association, HofBeats, Residence Life, Orientation Staff, Black Honors Student Committee, Model UN

Describe your college experience

So far, I would say my experience has been pretty good! My first year I was a commuter student, which kept me from socializing and I didn’t really feel like I had a place on campus. My second year I decided to become an RA on campus. Living on campus was very weird for me at first. I really didn’t know how to navigate my independence and being around so many new people However, I started to make bonds with the people around me and I started trusting myself. Now, I love living on campus and I feel really well-adjusted. I really enjoy the events and freedom campus has to offer. Academically, the transition from high school was very rough. To be honest, I didn’t study much in high school, so I didn’t have the foundation needed to be successful in that first semester. It was a complete disaster. My GPA was under a 3 and I thought I had ruined my college career off the bat. However, I used the school’s tutoring and academic excellence resources to help me acquire study and time management skills and boost my GPA. Safe to say it worked and I did not fail out! Now, I have a system to ensure I succeed in all of my classes.

Tip for future students

My tip for future students is to trust yourself. Going into college, I thought I was gonna make so many mistakes and I did but that’s ok. Growing up is about making mistakes and learning from them. What I wish I had known was that making mistakes is not my fault, it’s something that I have to go through in order to grow. So I wish I would just trust myself more and realize that everything that I do is not a complete make or break situation it’s a lesson that I can learn from. I also wish I knew how important it would be to ask for help. I never liked asking for help when I was younger. I thought that it made me look weak and dumb. But when you get to this environment and you’re taking these rigorous classes and you’re navigating the social scene and you’re on your own for the first time you realize it becomes so overwhelming that you don’t care if you look weak anymore. You don’t care if you look dumb because if you need support, you need to go and get that. If you don’t make that effort to reach out and ask for help, you are sabotaging yourself and possibly limiting your potential.

Favorite class

My favorite class had to be my organic chemistry class. The professor was genuinely passionate about teaching us and was very good at doing so. She also was very ruthless when people asked stupid questions, which was really funny. Despite that though, she was willing to help the class understand everything and made learning the topic fun. She was also super kind, she let me sit in on an exam for an hour later than I was supposed to because I overslept. Overall, organic chemistry was the best because the professor made suffering feel fun.

Career goals

After college, I want to work as an RN. After gaining some experience in the field, I want to go back to school and become a certified nurse anesthetist.

Ideal way to spend a free night

My ideal free night would be with friends having a cozy pajama movie night. We’d do face masks, paint our nails, have mocktails and watch a movie! We would also have way too much food. I’m talking mac and cheese, pizza, butter chicken, chicken wings, you name it. Best night ever.

High school or secondary school

Valley Stream North High School

Favorite spot on campus

my favorite spot on campus is pride Park. It’s a beautiful spot right next to the Student center and I love to get food, hang out with my friends and study there sometimes it’s just a really nice place to get fresh air, sunlight and just hang out! There’s also club events, concerts and movie nights held in pride park!