A few months ago, I sat down with Isabelle, a University of Northern Colorado (UNC) senior to talk about her life since she was accepted to college to now, her senior year. Isabelle studied Healthcare, then switched to Communication. She will graduate in May and be starting her career as a life coach, specializing in working with parents of students with disabilities.
How did you decide to go to college?
"Well, I looked at different colleges too. I looked at one in Florida and stuff, too. Really what brought [me] to UNC was really just the environment and the community at UNC....I really feel like I want to feel inclusive at UNC too."
When you were in high school what was your biggest motivation to go to college?
"I really wanted to get into higher education really because I wanted to do something more after high school. And, um, I wanted to continue learning and um do new things and have a new environment and community where I can be engaged at UNC."
How did you feel when you were first accepted to college?
"Really surprised. Like, my mom and my dad kind of knew that I was gonna get into UNC, but I never knew. But when I opened [the letter] I was like super excited."
Were there other things that were hard to overcome in college?
"Time management and also stress. I learned a lot from stress too. My sophomore year, I was a little bit stressed out. I really learned from that because I didn't realize how much support that I had at UNC....I did not say 'Can you help me with this?' I just said 'I can do it all on my own'. Now I can say 'I need help with this.' Those kind of things."
How does it feel to be a senior?
"It feels really good to be a senior. It feels yesterday I was a freshman and now I'm a senior now."
What do you hope to do when you graduate?
"I want to work as a life coach....My focus is really on parents with kids with disabilities. It sounds really interesting to me because there wasn't really a source like that for my mom when I was younger. So, my mom was thinking like 'I want to talk to someone with personal experience', and now I have personal experience."
