Name: Jamie Wong
Year: 2017
Hometown: Queens, NY
Majors/Minors: Sociology, Legal Studies, Social Justice & Social Policy
Her Campus: What drew you to Brandeis?
Jamie Wong: To echo the sentiments that many first-generation-to-go-to-college immigrant kids face, “Alumni and Friends Scholarship”. And Social Justice.
HC: What is your favorite part about Brandeis?
JW: The community and the people I’ve met and created bonds with. I believe to some level we are made out of interactions with the people around us. From the very beginning to now, all of the words we’ve exchanged over the years from promises to the simple bits that stay with us in everyday conversations, we’re touched by these interactions. It’s a nice thought to have.
But anyway, I adore my friends and the people I’ve gotten to know throughout these years.
HC: What are you involved with on campus?
JW: I’m the President and founder of the Brandeis Asian American Task Force, which is leading the push for an Asian American Studies Program at Brandeis University. I’m the Co-editor in Chief of Jaded Literary Magazine, a publication that focuses on creating a creative space for marginalized voices. Also the Sexual Violence Awareness Week chair for the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at Brandeis. I was previously an event coordinator for the Brandeis Asian American Students Association too.
HC: What is one thing you would tell your freshman-self?
JW: First of all: breathe. Remember to be yourself, and be comfortable with not knowing who that is yet. Be unafraid and bold, but remember that it doesn’t come overnight. Care for your friends deeply but care for yourself first; continue to be unsatisfied with all that you give, only so that you can learn your limits. Understand that people come and go naturally. Realize that one day you will find the right words, and they will be simple.
Also, you will always be indecisive as seen here in my inability to pick one thing.
HC: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
JW: Graduating from a pretty good law school (degree focused in public interest or critical race theory/justice) with my family, and most notably my grandfather, by my side. Minimal student debt (?).
Favorites:
Holiday song: Feliz Navidad
Class at Brandeis: What is Justice? Taught by Marion Smiley
Movie: J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)
Book: After the Quake, Haruki Murakami
City: New York, always.