Junior Amanda Dolan was more than excited for the school year to start so she could reunite with friends, sorority sisters, and her boyfriend. While Amanda is a social butterfly across campus, she is also devoted to her studies and hopes to be a speech pathologist in the future. Since she is involved in so many clubs and organizations, feel free to say hi when you see her going from one meeting to another and also read more about her exciting undergraduate life here at TCNJ.
Q. You’re involved in Greek Life, right? Can you tell me a little about that? Yeah! I’m in Theta Phi Alpha! It’s super fun and everyone is really nice. I’m glad I joined a sorority because it helped me step outside my comfort zone and I’ve met so many new people. It also helped me become more involved on campus and with volunteer work. I previously held positions which have helped me to learn skills that I can take with me through the rest of life.
Q. But Greek Life isn’t the only thing you do, what else are you involved in on campus? I play club field hockey and I am involved in a cognitive psychology lab with Dr. Biretta. Since I played field hockey all through middle and high school I wanted to become involved with the club team as well. It is very fun playing a club sport and it helped me to make friends and stay in shape throughout the year. In the lab, we study the cognitive skills and memory among elderly adults. I really enjoy doing research and hope to possibly pursue it in the future!
Q. You have a pretty awesome story about how you and your boyfriend met, can you tell me about it? My boyfriend and I started talking on Friendsy, an app that was popular last year. But, one time I saw a cutie in Eick on the burrito line and I was like wow he’s cute, he was also wearing his ROTC uniform with his name on it. Then, I made a Friendsy a few weeks later and across that same dude and then bam we matched! He messaged me and asked me to go get froyo and the rest is history!
Q. ROTC? That’s interesting! Can you talk a little bit more about that?
There are some mixed emotions. Of course it’s scary to think about potentially sending him off to war, but serving is something he has always been passionate about so I support that. I think it is very brave of him to want to do that, and it takes a lot of time and effort to be committed to something like this!
Q. What do you want to do with your Psychology major in the future?
I actually want to be a speech pathologist. Since I got a really bad concussion my freshman year of high school I had to go to speech rehabilitation and I loved the girl that helped me so much that she inspired me to pursue the same career and now here I am trying to help people with speech impediments.
Q. What are you looking forward to this semester?
I’m really looking forward to just spending time with my friends and making some great memories. I also have to start looking into graduate school programs and I’m just really trying not to freak out about becoming an adult. I’m just excited to see what this semester holds!