“Walking through the halls at Bellaire, I’m really scared. I feel like everybody’s staring at me or watching me do things. I do give off confident, only because I’m comfortable with the people [I’m around], but sometimes I’m really scared.
Coming in as a freshman, I wouldn’t say I was very extroverted. I used to sit in the halls by myself during lunch because I had no friends. I was really quiet in all my classes. But I got to know more people through track and East African Student Association and [as I] made more friends, they brought my inner confidence out. I became more bubbly and I put myself out there so that I could meet more people and I could be involved in more things. I would say Bellaire brought me out of my shell, that it bettered me for the real world.
I’ve been an officer in EASA for three years. I started off as just being a member and I saw the way everybody has a close community and close relationship with each other. I wanted that for myself, because growing up I wasn’t around a lot of East Africans. Going to Bellaire and having that here, I wanted to be involved.I started off as historian, then I elevated to secretary [and]then I was given the president spot.
My first BISA Fest performance, I was looking through the crowd and it felt like everybody was watching me, staring at all my flaws, little knicks and ticks. Just being surrounded with the people that were going through the same thing with me helped me overcome that and just put myself out there. After that, I became more comfortable on stage in front of a lot of people.
What I wanted somebody to tell me would be to plan ahead and go through with it, because procrastination is only going to take you so far [and is] essentially not going to do anything for you. I say to run your own race. Comparing yourself to other people is not gonna make you better. It’s just gonna put you down, and it’s just gonna push you deep. So to run your own race, I would say is like the biggest lesson I learned.
It’s all so bittersweet. It’s like it goes by really quick. I didn’t fully understand my four years and looking back, I didn’t do as much as I wanted to. Leaving school is going to be really sweet but [it is] also so sad leaving behind everything, behind everyone, but, I’m also going ahead and starting the real world.
I’m looking forward to graduation because we can’t have our phones at graduation. Meeting new people that I’ve never talked to, people that I’ve never imagined, just having a conversation. All these four years, we’ve never come out, so I’m just ready to talk to somebody freely [after] all these four years.”