I didn't find Suffolk; Suffolk found me. I can't tell you when or why I decided to attend Suffolk as a 17-year-old high school senior, but I can tell you that something changed as soon as I was on campus.
People at Suffolk are passionate—about what they study, what they teach, this campus itself—and it comes through in every aspect. Not only that, but there's this certain mentality at Suffolk that nothing will happen if you don't make it happen for yourself, if you don't put yourself out there at step one.
I remember meeting with my advisor in the Theatre Department one afternoon about a play I was writing and hoping to direct. I had decided to direct a play written by someone else rather than finish my own script—a less risky route. He stopped me right in my tracks and refused to accept that I wouldn't finish my work, refused to let me chicken out of my dream. He pushed and encouraged me through my self-doubt. With so many other students, classes, academic work, and non-academic work in his life, he was so dedicated to making sure I didn't give up on myself. That is what Suffolk taught me: I can be so much more if I persevere, if I brave the risk of failure, if I put in solid hard work and effort.
Everyone I am close with—my dearest professors, my closest friends, even my husband—I only know because of Suffolk. Suffolk IS my story. I've been a part of the Suffolk community for almost nine years now, first as a student, then as an alum, and now as a staff member. I came back because I want to find that person like me in the world, that person who doesn't quite know it yet, but who is waiting for Suffolk to find them, for Suffolk to be their story, too.