Name: Olivia Hobert
Class Year: 2020
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Major: Psychology & Education
Hometown: Framingham, Massachusetts
What drew you to Mount Holyoke?
To be honest, I wasn’t planning on coming to Mount Holyoke until the very last second last year. I initially wanted to go to a co-ed college because I’m used to being in a public school, but when I toured Mount Holyoke last April I immediately fell in love with the campus and how close the community was. It was everything I’d wanted in a college and I knew the second I stepped foot here I was going to love it.
What are you passionate about?
My main passions in life are creative writing, reading, and photography. I started reading books a few years before I learned how to talk, so in a way I’ve been reading since I was a baby. I found my love for writing stories in fifth grade, because my teacher was a huge believer in creative writing and set aside an hour every day for the class to write stories,which we would later print out and share with everyone. Since then, I’ve loved writing stories in my free time and plan on becoming an author in the future! I started liking photography pretty recently, actually. When I was a freshman in high school my mom bought me my first iPhone, and as soon as I discovered it had a good camera, I went absolutely crazy with it. I mainly photographed nature, since my family members didn’t like having their pictures taken. To this day I still love taking photos of sunsets, bodies of water, animals, skylines, you name it! Photography is almost therapeutic to me and I usually take pictures when I’m feeling stressed and am looking for a way to calm down.
Photo by Olivia
What do you plan to major in?
As of now I want to major in Psychology and Education. When I was three years old I was enrolled in speech therapy because I spoke so fast; no one could understand a word I was saying. I also had trouble pronouncing words with ‘r’ in them, and when I finally passed speech therapy at eight years old I was relieved to be out. Since then, I’ve wanted to help out another person who had a similar issue to mine, because I think having experience with the emotions that accompany the impediment can greatly help me empathize with others who have it as well. When I was looking at colleges last year, I was searching for a school that had a major that would help me find a path to becoming a speech pathologist, and luckily I found the Psychology and Education major here at MHC! I like this major because it’ll hopefully allow me to have options in the future when applying for jobs. If being a speech pathologist doesn’t work out, I could become a teacher or social worker instead! I always like to know I have options, rather than being stuck in one spot.
Any hobbies?
My main hobby is photography, I guess! I find myself taking photos in my free time more than anything else because taking pictures is a relatively fast process. I almost always upload my photos to Instagram or Facebook, because I want to spread the beauty of nature with my friends and family (and I don’t have a very photogenic face). I recently got my first Canon camera, but I find myself still using my iPhone since it’s much lighter and smaller to carry around with me.
What did you have to get used to the most coming to college?
Moving away from my family was hard. I only live an hour and fifteen minutes east of Mount Holyoke, but I don’t get to see my family every day like I’m used to. I call my mom all the time and talk to my sisters often too, but it’s just not the same. My older sister is a junior at Wellesley, which is very close to my house, so she goes home a lot. Sometimes I wish I was a mere twenty minutes from my family but then I remember living farther away is helping me become more independent. I’ve grown more used to not being with my family all the time, but it can definitely be hard.
What is your advice to students about to embark on this college journey?
Give yourself time to adjust to the new life style. When I first arrived at Mount Holyoke last September, I felt like everyone around me was so comfortable and relaxed, when I felt more homesick than ever. I felt pressured to toughen up and enjoy college life, when in reality I knew lots of other students who felt the same way. College is a dramatic change from high school and it’s perfectly fine to feel overwhelmed and awkward at first. Don’t feel like you have to hurry to get used to it! Everyone adapts to [new] settings at their own pace.
Has any event in college led you to a renewed spiritual connection?
I don’t think there have been any specific college events, but in general I think living at Mount Holyoke has renewed my spiritual connection with not just life, but people as well. Coming to college has changed the way I think, act, and view the world. I feel like I’ve become more mature over these past six months and have a deeper appreciation for those I care about, like my family and high school friends. Being away from them makes me realize how much they all mean to me.
What are your dreams and aspirations?
I’d really love to become an author of a book series at some point. I love reading YA novels and always draw inspiration for my own writing from the books I read. Writing is a passion I’ve had from a very young age and I’d love to see it take me somewhere in the future. Along with being an author, I’d love to work with teenagers or children. I think being a teenager is one of the hardest tasks in the world for so many reasons: you’re going through puberty, you’re starting high school, you’re making social groups and feeling left out at times… it’s all extremely overwhelming and I wish someone had helped me along the way. I think developing a close bond with someone else is a special and powerful thing, and I hope I can find someone to develop a close bond with in the future!
What brought you to Her Campus?
When I got to college I knew I wanted to join some sort of writing group. I wasn’t interested in writing informative articles, so I didn’t want to sign up for Mount Holyoke News. When I went to the Spring Org Fair and heard that Her Campus had a lot of freedom in writing, I jumped at the opportunity to be able to write fun, creative pieces for everyone to enjoy! I love writing for Her Campus; it’s such a friendly group of people to talk to and it’s nice to know we all share a love for writing.
Do you have any favorite places on campus for studying or relaxing?
I’m very much a homebody, so my favorite spot to relax is in my dorm. I’ve made it so it feels very homey and comfortable, since I didn’t want my dorm to feel like a hotel room for the entire year. I retreat there whenever I want a few hours to relax after a long test, or if I’m too tired to walk across campus to the library to study; in that case I study at my desk instead. However, I usually head to the sixth floor of the library when I need to get an assignment done and don’t want to get distracted by the things in my dorm. During finals week last semester my roommate showed me the studying tables in the North Stacks room of the sixth floor, and since then it’s become my favorite place to study.
Do you have a favorite animal?
Ever since I was twelve, I’ve had a weird love for Beluga whales. I think it’s because when I was younger my mom used to sing a song called Baby Beluga, so the animal has grown on me ever since! I just think they’re so adorable and sweet; plus they’re marine animals which are my favorite! For my 18th birthday my family brought me to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut to see the Beluga Whales, and let me tell you — they are as cute and funny as I imagined. I would definitely consider the Beluga whale to be my spirit animal.
Olivia with Beluga whales
Do you like traveling? Where would you want to go and why?
Yes! I love traveling, even though I don’t do it very often. The last place I went to on a plane was San Diego over Spring Break and before that was Paris in 2010. Both places were beautiful and felt very different from Massachusetts, which lead to a great amount of culture shock for me. In the future, I really want to go to Australia. I’ve always had the feeling I was destined to go there, and, if things work out, I want to study abroad there my junior year! I have cousins that live in Canberra and they’ve told me multiple times I’m welcome to visit. If I have the opportunity to go, you’ll find me on the next flight!
If you would like to write for Her Campus Mount Holyoke, or if you have any questions or comments for us, please email mt-holyoke@hercampus.com.