Name: Stefani Gospodinova
Major/ Minor: American Studies, International Studies with a possible minor in English or Journalism
Hometown: Norwalk, Connecticut
HerCampus: You are on the CORE (Orientation) committee, a peer counselor at Student Financial Services,
work at Anthropologie, and on the Concerts committee for Student Events. So, what made you decide to be involved with all of these organizations?
Stefani:
CORE: I was an Orientation Leader my sophomore year and I never quite expected myself to do CORE. I thought about it, but then I on a whim I decided to apply because there were a lot of things that I wanted to do. I knew that there was a lot of freedom with planning orientation, like different subjects that I would be able to cover in all of the three days. For instance, I was able to do a Social Justice Program for Orientation, which was really important to me, and at the same time do Social Events like the Paint Party. It was two polar things that I would be able to put in one week. I don’t think that an internship would be able to have given me the opportunity that I was given, and that’s why I really decided to do CORE.
STUDENT EVENTS: I really want to get into PR in my future, but that’s kind of up in the air. But Student Events is a great group of people, I really enjoying being in it, and I like to make the student body happy especially with concerts. It’s hard to choose an artist for everybody and just not for yourself.
ANTHROPOLOGIE: I have just always loved clothes, and I have worked there for two years. You meet a lot of great people.
STUDENT FINANCIAL SERVICES: I had a really hard time finding a job on campus like everyone else because it’s a small campus. So, I applied for a job at the Student Financial Services office, and I got it. It’s a really great opportunity because I get to learn a lot about the academics and the financial aspect, and I get to see most of the student body throughout the day. I am the person who can help you with I-9, credit release forms, making appointments, and helping ensure that you are directed to the right person before we bring you to the advisors.
HerCampus: Wow, it looks as if you have a lot of your plate. But tell the us why are you interested in PR?
Stefani: PR honestly came from a movie, I do not remember which one, but it sounded like such a cool thing. I became obsessed with the idea. Not many people know much about what it means to be a PR. There are so many different ways to go about it. Through CORE, I realized that I’m much more interested in the creative process of PR rather than so much the logistical and technical process of putting out the events. It was really great to learn that early on.
HerCampus: Why did you choose to minor in American Studies?
Stefani: I always knew I wanted to minor in IGS because I like international relations. I’m mainly interested in education reform, but globally and just not in the United States. I just want to learn about people and things, and just understand what the world is in some sort of way. American Studies, actually, I never really knew about it until I came to Brandeis. I went to the Academic Fair, and I met Professor Dougherty who literally convinced me to become an American Studies major. I took his class that semester, and it just made sense. It’s a major about culture, history, and it’s honestly for fun. I enjoy it and have fun with it. While I have lived most of my life in the states, my parents are Bulgarian. So, I don’t know that much about American Culture as much as I should. With PR I think I need to understand more about the culture and how the people are. There is so much to do with everything from not only movies, but people, individualism, religion, and all these things that I really don’t know much about.
HerCampus: What do you think that you’re going to do in the future in terms of Brandeis for the second semester or even your senior year?
Stefani: Well, I’m actually going abroad to Paris next semester. Senior year, I have no idea. I’m actually in a funny place because orientation has just been insane, and it has really made me think about my life and how I want to live it. I feel like I make myself so busy sometimes, and I’m at that point when I think “is it worth it?” I’m really trying to simmer through all the things that I do, and make everything in the next two years worthwhile. That’s why I’m so confused about my minors now because I really just want to take classes that I enjoy. If a minor comes out of that, then it comes out of it. But, this semester I am only taking two required classes and everything else are new classes for fun. I have realized that I could get more out of it rather than just focusing on making the “three majors” just like everybody else. It’s tough because in the end you want to be successful and work hard but you also want to be happy. People forget about their personal happiness so often.
HerCampus: Name one thing that you think is a quirky thing about you that most people would not be able to figure out by just looking at you.
Stefani: Hold on, let me think about this. This is in my CORE bio, but no one reads that. My friends only know this, but I have a serious cat problem. I love cats. I have three cats. Yes, my aspiration is to be a cat-lady. It’s something that I really love. I don’t wear cat sweaters, but maybe I will one day…it’s a possibility.