Meet this week’s Campus Cutie, Claire Von Loesecke! She is a super involved senior- between being Vice President of SGA, Co-captain of the ski team, a CISLA scholar, and writing an honors thesis she’s certainly been busy this year! Read her advice for underclassmen, and learn about her amazing plans for after graduation. Read on to hear more!
Class Year: 2015
Hometown: Hingham, MA – I’m a J.O.B., what of it
Major: Economics
Minor: French, Math
Extracurricular activities: SGA, Ski Team, Senior Giving, CISLA Student Advisory Board, Senior Dinner Series, being the troll of Econometrics lab in the basement of Becker House, cleaning Ridge 15
Plans for after graduation? I’ll be starting work as an Analyst at Eze Software Group in Boston on August 3rd, but right I after I graduate, former Campus Cutie, Savannah Berger (aka my domestic partner), and I will be doing a road trip in the southwestern US. We’re flying into Phoenix, and from there we’re going to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Vermillion National Park, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, Joshua Tree National Park, Palm Springs, and then finishing up in San Diego! I’m super excited. As for afterwards, I’m looking into a program where I would be teaching French in Cambodia. Hopefully I’ll get to explore other parts of Southeast Asia while I’m there as well!
Favorite place on campus: I think a lot of people would assume the AC since I’m kind of a gym rat, but I would probably have to say Jazzman’s Café. I’ve probably spent more than half my life savings on coffee there.
Favorite class or professor at Conn? Favorite class, Inflation and Unemployment with Professor McKenna last fall semester. It was by far one of the most interesting classes I’ve taken at Conn; not to mention how applicable all of the topics that we covered were to real world economics. And of course I have to say my favorite Professor is Professor Cruz-Saco, because she’s my thesis advisor and is amazing.
Tell us about your involvement with CISLA! How did you get involved, and what is your senior project on? I first learned about CISLA my freshman year through my floor governor who was involved in the program. She knew I was taking French classes and had a passion for foreign travel, so she personally reached out to me and encouraged me to look into CISLA. I went to a couple of the info sessions, where I had the opportunity to hear about current CISLA scholars’ experiences and the opportunities offered through the program, and I was immediately sold. I completed the application process fall semester of my sophomore year and was accepted after finals, which was definitely one of the best unofficial Christmas presents ever. The project I proposed to complete research on for my Senior Integrative Project (SIP) was an examination of the development of the food and beverage processing sector in Senegal. This SIP ultimately evolved into my honors thesis for the economics department, which uses the Solow Model to quantify the growth of productivity within the food and beverage sector, and then to quantify the impact of productivity growth within the sector on poverty levels in Senegal.
How was your semester in Senegal last year? My semester in Senegal was absolutely amazing, I could talk for days about my experience abroad. One of the highlights of my time is Senegal was when a bunch of other students in my program and I went to a music festival in the desert and also got to ride some camels! On a more serious note, I also got to take part in a very important Muslim holiday called Tabaski with my host family. It was extremely meaningful to be included in such a sacred celebration that is so important to my host family.
Favorite band/musician at the moment: I’ve been really into Lord Huron lately for study music, and I’ve always been a huge fan of Odesza.
Most embarrassing moment at Conn: Sophomore year I close lined myself on a chain link fence on the gravel road that connects Dolley Field to Coast Guard. I took a huge digger, which resulted in a super nasty hole in my knee. My friends were pretty adamant about taking me to the hospital to get stitches, especially since you could definitely see all the way to my knee bone, but hospitals really freak me out and I wasn’t too excited about the thought of getting stitches, so instead I just jankily taped up my own knee and then had to explain to everyone why I was limping around and why I was wearing such an absurd bandage. I still have a pretty nasty scar from it too. More recently, I lost an “odd’s are” at one of the senior dinners and had to get dunked in a trash can filled with all the leftovers that had been scraped off of everyone’s plates. It was pretty nasty, but I think all the yogurt did a pretty nice job conditioning my hair…
What is one thing you have not checked off your Conn bucket list yet? Jumping into the Thames River. Everyone says its polluted, but a little contaminated water never killed anyone right?!
As a graduating Senior, what advice would you give to underclassmen?
- Study abroad somewhere not in Europe. It will change you profoundly.
- Join ski team. Seriously. You won’t regret it.
- And on that note, get involved campus! You meet some of the coolest people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise, and it makes your time at Conn that much more meaningful.
- That being said, go off campus and explore the surrounding area if you can. There are some really beautiful parks (Rocky Neck and Bluff Point are two of my personal favorites) and amazing food places (obviously Captain Scott’s) that you can’t miss out on.
- Don’t destroy or vandalize the Ridge. Or any of the houses on campus for that matter. People live there and frankly its sucks for the people who have to live in a mess created by other people. Also, no one is impressed that you broke the Exit sign—clearly it’s been done before.
- Go to your professors’ office hours. The faculty here are outstanding and a really interesting to get to know on a personal level. Not to mention it makes all the difference academically to at least check in with a professor every once in a while.
- Appreciate everything about campus bar. The awesome people who work there, the incredibly cheap pitchers, and most importantly, the free snacks.
- Next time you feel the urge to complain about Harris food, remember that they serve salmon and it’s pretty good. Can’t say I know of many other schools that serve salmon.
- Put peanut butter on one of the banana chocolate chip bars they have in the dining halls at lunch and then heat it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Bask in all of glorious deliciousness and do not share with friends.
- What your CELS counselors and CELS Fellows tell you about networking is 110% true. I’m convinced that 90% of the reason I got my job was because I reached out to alum. And on that note, start your job search first thing fall semester of senior year (or even over the summer if you can.) It’s a terrifying thought, but you’ll be so glad you did come senior spring.
How do you feel about being Campus Cutie? Do I get to a cord for it to wear at graduation?!
Anything else you’d like to share?
A few random facts about myself:
- I don’t like Nutella, mac and cheese, or French fries. People are shocked when I tell them this because who doesn’t like all of those foods, but at least I won’t steal your fries at dinner right?!
- But pizza and brownies are my two favorite foods so I’m definitely not anti-junk food.
- I’ve been told my spirit animal is a frog. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing, but I’ll take it for what it’s worth I guess.
- My mom’s sister’s husband is my dad’s brother. Just think that one over for a bit…mind blown.
- I was born in Pointe Claire, Québec (that’s not why I was named Claire though), so I have dual citizenship with the US and Canada.
- My last name is pronounced “lessica.” It rhymes with Jessica. I’ve actually convinced a few people that my real name is Jessica von Loesecke but that I go by my middle name Claire (which is actually Marie), because I’m embarrassed that my name rhymes.