Sometimes, you can make some of the most amazing friends you’ve ever had in an instant. The click can happen immediately, or it can be a slow build that takes time to fully form into a beautiful friendship. With Sage, my case was the former.
Credit: Natalie Glidden
Sage is a Boston University sophomore double majoring in Film and TV in COM and Psychology in CAS. Sage was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and three of her passions include biking, Mamma Mia (as a movie/a lifestyle), and stand-up comedy.
Sage was one of the first people I ever met at BU, since I was blessed enough to have her as my FYSOP leader. The second I spotted her shockingly turquoise bob from across Marsh Plaza I knew she was a going to be a winner. Once I saw her incredibly bubbly personality and constant positivity in action I approached her immediately, and a friendship was born. Since Sage is one of the absolute coolest and most outgoing people I’ve ever met, I thought you all should get to know her too! She’s also working on a documentary about freshman year, so I asked her about how her project and life, in general, is going…
Credit: Alex Del Tufo
How is sophomore year treating you?
Sophomore year is going a lot better than freshman year. I am a lot busier than I was at this time last year, but somehow managing it a million times better. Every time something bad happened to me freshman year I feel like I took it as, “I’m not succeeding, life is harder than I expected it to be,” and I really got down on myself about anything that happened. This year, it’s not like things are going wrong (things are going wrong, things are happening, that’s life), but instead of taking it as a reflection of me not being a good enough student, a good enough adult, or a good enough person. I see it as a challenge that the world has given me, and an opportunity to just be like, “you know what, I’m better than that, that’s something that’s happening, and I’m going to get over it.”
Credit: Alex Del Tufo
Let’s talk about that documentary of yours… was your freshman experience particularly meaningful?
My freshman year was hard, to say the least, and I felt very alone. If I tried to say I was drowning, people would just be like, “Wow, I can’t relate, that’s not what I’m going through.” Everyone seemed to have a really good time. I tried to tell myself they’re struggling too, but they’re just not as vulnerable as me. I tend to be very emotional, but I just felt so alone because no one was trying to get on that level with me.
Now when I talk to other people my age they’re like, “Yeah, freshman year was hard and I was wildly depressed.” When things were starting to go better sophomore year, I realized all of those people who I thought were doing amazing and who I was jealous of and who made me feel so isolated were struggling more than they were willing to admit I want people to feel comfortable admitting that somethings things are hard, and sometimes things are too hard for us to deal with on our own. We really have to be willing to be real with each other. Hopefully, I get some of that real emotion in the documentary because I want to make freshman feel less alone.
Credit: Sage Holloway
Why did you choose to make a documentary rather than a fictional film?
My freshman year originally inspired me to make a fictional film, but I thought that the documentary would be a really good place to start. I also read something about how the final form of an artistic project is almost never what the original intention was, so I decided why worry about being able to make that fictional film and being able to make it with a high production value when I can do something more accessible to me now.
Do you think getting a second degree as a Psychology major has changed how you view the media, particularly Film and TV?
So much! I took Psychology of Learning with Professor Dunne and after that class, I couldn’t imagine not majoring in Psychology. The most compelling part of that class to me was how I was taking it in conjunction with my Film class (FT 201). I was learning the process of learning while I was learning the process of media, so they really started to connect in my head. I started to realize how media images affect our subconscious thought. We have conversations with ourselves for most of the day and we don’t really think about that and the media affects that so much.
Credit: Alex Del Tufo
You are one busy gal. How do you juggle everything that you are involved in and still manage to stay so positive and energetic?
If I could give advice to anyone at this point it would be to stop considering the things in your life as chores. We’re doing everything willingly. There are not many things that we’re doing because we have to. Start viewing choices as really exciting things that you have to do. Just take a moment to remind yourself how lucky you are to have that choice, and how excited you are to do all the things in your life. We’re going to college! Do you know how many people would die to go to college? How cool is that? Yeah, I’m like f─king busy, but I love class. Maybe it’s a little scary that I could fail something, but I chose to come here, and I love it, and I’m not going let the minute tasks get in the way of how I feel about being here.
Credit: Natalie Glidden
Sage is a superstar in every sense of the word. She is all over campus, bouncing between classes, extracurriculars, and yes, even majors. While she is getting a hang of this whole ‘life thing,’ Sage is also one of the most down-to-earth and humbly confident individuals out there. You may spot her walking down Commonwealth Avenue since her brightly hued head stands out from the crowd. If you do see her, go ahead and say hello. She’ll probably stop everything and give you a big hug right there in the middle of the street because that’s just the Sage Holloway way.
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