Name: Ruth Timothy
Age: 21
Major: English
Year: Senior
HC: What has been your best experience while attending UIC?
RT: My best experience at UIC has been conducting research! During the summer of 2014, I was accepted into the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), a paid research opportunity for minority students. The program gave me the privilege to pursue topics of interest to me for the entire summer. For me that’s a dream! I’m the type of person who stays in my head a lot, thinking about random sorts of things. Research allows me to do that comfortably without judgment. It fits.
HC: What are some future aspirations you have?
RT: My future aspirations are to go on to graduate school to become an educational researcher, to write poems, plays, and novels—and hopefully have them adapted into movies—and to own my own business. Of what I’m not sure, but something innovative.
HC: What are you looking forward to accomplishing this school year?
RT: I’m a senior, so I’m looking forward to finishing out the degree, being admitted into a strong graduate program, and learning more about all the different sides of my personality.
HC: Who have been some people that have made your collegiate career positive thus far?
RT: Wow! Well, it varies from the students to the administrators. In terms of students, I’ve met some amazing, like-minded people here, all of them focused on success, wealth, and achieving greatness. We’re all obsessive and mad about our work, you know, and when you meet people like that, it’s a great thing. The energy is infectious. The administrators in the Graduate College, AAAN, as well as key professors have mentored me to a great extent. Letter of recommendation? There was someone there for that. Needed to cry about the stress of college? There was someone there for that, too. Amazing people. And of course…My mother.
HC: What self-changes have you undergone while being at UIC? How have they impacted your life?
RT: I would say I’ve evolved as a person. As humans, we all have different sides to our personalities. Different quirks. Different idiosyncrasies. Throughout undergraduate—throughout life, in fact—I’ve been committed to stamping out those idiosyncrasies. To appear more normal, I guess? However, being here in college has exposed me to people who are unapologetically themselves. They may be weird, quirky, strange, unorthodox, anomalies, but they are themselves. And seeing their confidence and their happiness—that reckless, unadulterated happiness that comes only with pure self-love—well it’s something I’ve wanted to obtain for myself. So the self-change I’d say is letting each personality trait exist happily within me.
HC: What have you learned from UIC that you can take with you into the business world?
RT: I learned that success is about doing things. It’s not about just talking, you know. “I’m good at this and I’m good at that.” What have you done to show for it? And if you haven’t anything to show for it, what are you doing currently? Action is the name of the game. Do I sound like a talk-show motivator? I don’t mean to, but you must DO. Every day, every hour, do something to improve your skills and talents. Do something to exercise your genius. Talk is cheap. Very cheap.
HC: What are your plans after UIC? Upon pursuing your MA, what would you like to do with it?
RT: Ah…to be a scholar or an artist. On the one hand, I really just want to write stories—the type of stories that change people’s worlds. On the other hand, I look at the educational system and I see that 1) it’s badly in need of reform, and 2) requires more research for improvement. So it’s tough, trying to satisfy both those sides of myself. Currently, I’m working on trying to blend the two ideals. However, after the MA, I will get the Ph. D. in Education with a concentration in Literacy, Language, and Culture. I’ll continue to write creatively at night, as I’ve been doing.
HC: What have you learned about yourself? Is there anything that you would do differently if given the chance?
RT: If I could have another chance to do it again, I would have loved myself more. I would have made choices that enhanced me as a person, not the opposite. Self-love is key, in any endeavor of life.
HC: What adversities have you overcome? School? Personal?
RT: To speak of the adversities I’ve overcome would be quite lengthy, so I’ll say this. Race, gender, educational background, income, learning levels—they can be society-imposed limitations, especially with their negative connotations. But it’s when you accept them, that they become self-limitations. Society will always create categories to promote or suppress certain groups. Do not confine yourself to such socially constructed ideals. You have the choice to ignore them. Instead, strive for self-actualization at every given moment, regardless of race, of gender, educational background, income, learning levels, etc. Fulfill your passions.
HC: If there is any advice you can share with other young women on our campus what would it be?
RT: To love yourself, purely and shamelessly. And not just loving the way you look, or how smart you are. But loving yourself enough to make choices that contribute positively to your growth and development as a person. Lastly, fulfill your true life’s passion at all costs. Don’t worry about money. That will come. If you’re good at what you do, people will pay. It doesn’t matter what it is. Remain true to that. Also, if you’re not sure what you want to do career-wise, it’s good to research a topic of interest to you. It will help you learn more about your potential passions and goals. Some people do research and realize they would fare better in a corporate world. Others do it and fall in love, realizing that exploring answers to questions is a worthy lifetime pursuit. Regardless, if you try research, you’ll be one step closer to figuring out your future.
HC: You provided great advice for young women to follow. Your inner beauty definitely resonated within this interview. Thank you so much for sitting down with us!