Name: Cait Howard
Age: 22
Major: Sociology
Hometown: Fresno
What activities are you involved with besides school? Besides school, I volunteer once a week at the East Bay Community Law Center. There I aid in providing assistance to people in low income communities seeking to mobilize and understand their legal rights. In addition, I work part-time at Patagonia after school a couple days a week.
Do you have any hobbies/ interests? Of course! I love going backpacking with my family and spending a week or two away from the city. I also love reading basically anything I can get my hands on and having impromptu dance parties in the kitchen with my housemates.
How do you stay organized with school, work events, etc? Staying organized is by no means easy. What I’ve found is that the key to being organized throughout the school year is to put in a lot of effort in advance. When I get the syllabus for a course I’m taking, I immediately put all of the assignments in a planner. This way, I know in advance when all of my assignments are due, and I don’t need to keep consulting the syllabus. This works really well when you are taking multiple courses and need a single place to see what work is due throughout the week. In addition, I make sure the calendar on my phone is filled with times for work, school, and meetings. This way all of my obligations can be found on one device.
Who/ What inspires you? I am inspired by so many strong women in my life. The four most prominent women in my life are probably my nana, mom, my mentor Michelle, and of course Beyonce. Although their impact in my life varies, all four women embody different qualities that I wish to one day emulate: strength, courage, style, comfort, and sheer badassity.
What do you like about San Francisco State? I love the amount of diversity San Francisco State offers as well as the intimacy of a small campus. Coming from a community college, I wanted to make sure that I still felt like I was a part of a community. I also really like being able to form connections with my professors. The small class sizes really contribute to this connection and makes it so I don’t feel intimidated to talk in class.
What is something you are looking forward to after graduation? Is sleep an acceptable answer? Haha! In all seriousness, I’m looking forward spending some more time continuing to work with the East Bay Community Law Center and possibly conducting research on the overall effectiveness of community law centers. I also want to be able to spend time traveling in South America for a few months before working towards applying to graduate programs in either public policy or jurisprudence and social policy.
Do you have any advice for college students? Now that I’m finishing up my last year of college, I’ve realized how much I’ve learned and grown. My advice to students is something I’ve struggled with for a long time: don’t let your grades define your self worth. For a long time, I used my grades as a way to determine how I viewed myself. One thing I’ve had to work on, and I hope other students come to realize too, is that grades are not the entirety of our identity. It is far more important to focus on what you are passionate about and find ways to foster this passion instead of waisting energy on a bad quiz grade.
What is something that people don’t know about you? I have the web under my tongue pierced.