The Faces Behind the Organization: A Spotlight on FSA

While I've mentioned the Filipino Students Association numerous times during this semester in my blog entries, I don't think I've properly conveyed why this student organization is close to my heart. It's true that part of the reason is that I've spent a lot of time working with this group in preparing for Culture Show and organizing other events over the past two years; however, even more so is that I love the people in it. Therefore, I've decided to discuss eight people in FSA, although there are other individuals in FSA who are also dear to me.

*****

AMETHYST: I first met Amethyst last year during my freshman seminar on tuberculosis, so when we saw each other at the first FSA meeting in September, we instantly recognized each other from class. Since then, I've been glad to have her as a friend. This year's treasurer in FSA, Amethyst is a sophomore public health major. While she's currently undecided whether she wants to be pre-med or not, Amethyst is passionate about public health; she spent this past summer volunteering with an epidemiology program of the Florida state government's public health department. She's also actively involved with Colleges Against Cancer, and she's in her second year as a committee member for Relay For Life, which is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Furthermore, Amethyst is a mentor in MAPP (Mentoring Assistance Peer Program), and I hope that the freshmen who are her mentees realize how lucky they are to have her as their mentor (if they haven't already)! If you get to know Amethyst, you'll instantly love her infectious laugh and her tight hugs -- she's a very warm, welcoming person.

JEREMY: A senior economics major, Jeremy is the current president of FSA. He often works at Signatures, which is a stationery store on St. Paul Street that's close to campus; whenever I walk down St. Paul Street and see him working at Signatures, I usually stop by to chat with him, since I barely see him around campus (aside from FSA events). Jeremy likes organizing potlucks, restaurant outings, and other social events, and he's also a hilariously quotable guy. Last, but not least, he's a good friend who's willing to listen to you and try to comfort you if you're stressed out or upset over something.

JOANNA: "JoJo," as we call her, is a recent alumna; she graduated from the School of Nursing this past spring. Last year, when I was a freshman and she was a senior, JoJo was the president of FSA -- and a great one at that! Despite having to commute from her apartment near the Homewood campus to the nursing school almost every day to attend classes and long clinicals, she managed to organize and oversee various FSA events throughout the year; furthermore, she was a mentor in MAPP (and Roxi was one of her mentees). Whether it was to underclassmen in FSA or MAPP mentees, JoJo was a very motherly figure who often took the time to check up on us to see how we were coping with our lives at Hopkins. I miss her -- we all do. Ironically, of all the FSA alumni who are from the Hopkins Class of 2007, she's the farthest from Baltimore, since she's working as an ER nurse at the UCLA hospital -- yet she's the one who keeps in touch with us the most, from calling us periodically to sending a care package filled with Filipino food from the L.A. area!

JORGE: Jorge is a living example of how you don't have to be Filipino to be a member of FSA! (He's Guatemalan.) He joined FSA at the beginning of last year when a Filipina friend of his, Clarisa, asked him to join it with her because she didn't want to join it alone. Meanwhile, she agreed to join the Chinese Lion Dance Troupe with him, so that he wouldn't have to join it alone! Since then, while Clarisa (who's now a sophomore applied mathematics major) has dropped out of the Chinese Lion Dance Troupe and remained in FSA, Jorge (who's now a sophomore pre-med biology major) has remained in both. Anyway, Jorge has become a beloved member of FSA, not only because he enthusiastically attends and helps organize events, but also because he's a very amicable guy. Even when he's stressed over schoolwork, he always manages to put on a smile, and as a result, it's hard not to smile and feel cheered up whenever you run into him around campus! Furthermore, Jorge is one of the most generous people I know, and he's often doing favors for his friends without expecting anything in return -- because of this, one of my friends has told me that he sometimes feels bad asking Jorge for a favor, just because he already is busy doing favors in general.

NIAN: While she's one of my closest friends at Hopkins (as well as one of my suitemates), Nian (who’s also a sophomore) and I didn't become friends instantaneously. Even though she and I were among the attendees of the first FSA meeting in September last year, we didn't talk until after Culture Show in November. By then, two thirds of our freshman fall semester had already passed. Nonetheless, we somehow bonded quickly, and by the time the semester was over and it was time to go home for winter break, we were already pretty good friends. This year, Nian is FSA's representative in the Inter-Asian Council (IAC), and she's actively involved with many IAC activities as its cultural co-chair; she's also a MAPP mentor and a sister in the Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority (into which JHU_Stefanie has recently been inducted). You can read about Nian's thoughts on extracurricular involvement in her recent guest blog entry. Nian is a public health major, and while she's currently pre-med, she isn't sure yet whether she'd rather pursue an M.D. or a Ph.D. -- and she has strong feelings against individuals who look down on the fact that she's not dead-locked on which of those two degrees she wants to pursue after college. Quote Nian: "I'm just a sophomore!"

PHILLIP RICO: I normally call him "Phil," but I've decided to list his full first name just because I love the story behind it. Anyway, Phil is half Filipino and half Puerto Rican, hence the name "Phillip Rico"! Like Nian, Phil and I barely talked for the first two thirds of the fall semester of our freshman year; however, we started to talk and hang out more often during the last third of the semester (which, ironically, was when FSA got together less often, since Culture Show was over) and somehow became fairly close friends by the time we had to go home for winter break. Since then, we've become good friends, and he’s probably my closest male friend at Hopkins -- he's almost like a brother to me, and he even calls me "hermanita" ("little sister" in Spanish) sometimes. A very admirable trait about Phil is that he rarely lets himself get stressed out by his schoolwork; in fact, his overall chill persona somehow gives a mistaken impression that he doesn't study at all! (But he does.) By the way, in case you're interested in this kind of information, Phil's a sophomore pre-med biology major; he's also considering having a second major or a minor in psychology.

PRECIOUS: Precious is extremely quirky, but the more you get to know her, the more you realize what a brilliant (and golden-hearted) girl she is. She's notorious for pulling pranks such as bringing Chinese take-out food to potlucks and insisting that it's her own cooking, or for eating food on other people's plates during meal times, but if you find the time to have a conversation with her, you can see that she's much more mature than she might seem. Now a junior, Precious originally was a chemistry major who intended on pursuing a Ph.D. in the field, but she recently decided to be a pre-med anthropology major instead. Listening to Precious discuss how she decided to perform this seemingly sudden change of major and long-term plans is inspiring; in her words, she realized that she should do something because she's passionate about it, and not just because she's good at it. Outside the classroom, Precious is also involved in various activities, including being a MAPP mentor, an organic chemistry tutor, and an organic chemistry lab TA.

RODELL: The other active senior in FSA this year, Rodell is the vice president of FSA for the second year in a row, as well as my Culture Show dance partner for the second year in a row. While I barely interacted with him during the fall semester last year, I started talking and hanging out with him during the spring semester last year. He's on the quiet side, so it might take a while to get to know him at first -- for instance, he's currently a chemistry lab TA, and one freshman I met this year who has Rodell as his TA told me, "Uh, he's kind of quiet....I haven't really talked to him..." However, once you get to know him, he's a pretty nice guy to know. While he can tease you annoyingly like a sibling would, when he's serious, you can have pleasant conversations with him -- and, like the other amazing individuals mentioned in this entry, he's a wonderfully supportive friend. Rodell is a chemical and biomolecular engineer, and he spent the last summer working for Bristol-Myers Squibb. As for his post-graduation plans, he's in the middle of applying for several job positions -- hopefullly, he'll be accepted into a few!

********************************************************************************************************************************
Now we interrupt this blog with a special Hopkins Interactive advertisement:

The members of Hopkins Interactive recently launched a Facebook group for prospective Johns Hopkins University students. In the group, prospective students can learn even more about Hopkins by looking at pictures, watching movies, accessing quick links to blogs, and more. Members of the group will also get monthly message updates with the newest insider information. To learn about how you can join Facebook and/or become a member of the group, check out this message board thread: click here.

As well, we wanted to remind you that each member of the Hopkins Interactive team has their own personal message board thread. These message boards are meant to be a place for prospective students to ask questions directly to current Hopkins students! These threads are organized by area of study. You can explore these personal message boards: click here. So, what are you waiting for? Go explore Hopkins…and while you're at it, send a student a question or even just a friendly hello!

~The Hopkins Interactive Team

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging ...
********************************************************************************************************************************

Comments

[Stefanie]

I'm looking forward to going to the FSA potluck in January! :) It's funny how you and I know the same group of people but it took Nervous Systems to bring us together (outside of SAAB meetings). I loved this entry! Readers: these people are seriously amazing (and I can say from personal encounters with most of them). Also, I love the quote under Rodell's section. That's hilarious.

[Admissions_Daniel]

Great post. What an unique and amazing friends you have made.

Happy Holidays!