Meet Fiona: the sweet and bubbly freshman from Great Falls, Virginia. She’s been around the world and back but for now, she’s staying put to study at James Madison University. Fiona is pursuing a major in Psychology and hopes that one day, after Grad school of course, she will establish a career in the field of research. I sat down with the ambitious 18-year-old (her birthday’s not ‘til August!) to talk about her travels and her feelings about completing her first year as a Duke.
HCJMU: So, where exactly have you been around the world?
Well, I was born in Antigua, in the Caribbean and lived there until I was five and we moved to New York. My dad is in the hotel business so we get to move a lot! I’ve also lived in California, Charlottesville, VA, Arizona, and North Carolina.
I’ve also been to quite a few places in Europe, mostly Western. My family is from Switzerland so I’ve been there before, but also Turkey and Germany to name a few. I actually got the opportunity to be a foreign exchange student in Germany during high school!
HCJMU: Wow! What was studying over in Germany like?
It was really cool! Everyone was very nice; they really liked meeting Americans! Everything was so clean there too. Sometimes it was hard to communicate because of the language barrier, but most of them knew a lot of English since it is required for them to take in school. The town I stayed in was near the coast, so we went to the beach almost every day!
HCJMU: Do you think you are going to study abroad in college?
I definitely want to go during the summer, hopefully twice! I think it’d be cool to go to a continent I’ve never been to before like Asia, Australia, or Africa. South America would be so interesting!
HCJMU: How does it feel that your freshman year of college is almost over?
Sad! Summer is such a long break and I don’t want to leave my friends or JMU just yet. But at the same time, this year was super busy, especially holding a position in my sorority, so it might be a nice break too!
HCJMU: What clubs/organizations are you involved in on campus?
I am a member of the Psychology Learning Community, a volunteer at the local homeless shelter, Mercy House, and the Vice President of Foundation in Delta Gamma.
HCJMU: What types of things do you do as VP Foundation?
Basically, I’m in charge of philanthropy, fundraising awareness and community service. The biggest event I oversaw this year was Anchor Splash, our annual competition between all of the sororities and fraternities where teams have to battle it out in pool games. All of our proceeds go to our philanthropy, Service for Sight, which helps people with vision impairment.
HCJMU: What advice would you give to incoming freshmen, now that you’ve just completed your first year?
Meet lots of people, especially in the beginning! Be open to everyone and everything, try out clubs and organizations, and get involved. It seems like everyone at JMU is involved in something! Also, make sure to go to all of your classes – work piles up!