Hi readers, 

So you want to study engineering, but you also want to be civically engaged. Well, then, you’ve come to the right place! Here at Tufts, I have been able to do both. In high school I remember how much I loved to volunteer and help out my local community and when coming to college I was worried that because I was pursuing an engineering degree I wouldn’t be able to do so. 

Tufts does a good job of offering many opportunities to be civically engaged and I often find it really rewarding to be able to do so because when I am wrapped up in equations, circuits and labs, volunteering and helping out the community keeps me grounded and reminds me that I want to use my engineering skills to help people.

Some things that Tufts offers that I haven’t been apart of but are popular are:

Tufts Animal Aid

A club where you can walk local dogs in the neighborhood

Tufts Community Day 

A whole day where students and faculty invite the Medford and Somerville residents to come and listen…

After navigating the competitive process of securing a finance internship for my junior summer, all the way back during my sophomore year, I found myself wanting to get more involved on campus at Tufts. That desire led me to an annual end-of-year food event hosted by the African Student Organization (ASO) called Fena Fena, held on the Tisch rooftop last spring. There, I had the chance to meet and connect with current ASO members, build genuine rapport, and eventually decide to apply for a leadership role. I went on to be offered the position of Treasurer for this school year, an offer I ecstatically accepted.

Being a Treasurer of a college club is a very different experience from anything in high school. It's not just a title for the sake of having one, you are part of a team, and you function as part of the nucleus that keeps everything running. As Treasurer, I'm responsible for managing the club's transactions and budget, and working closely with the Tufts Financial Office and Treasury…

As I sit in the overwhelmingly and insanely busy Hong Kong airport, I can't help but reminisce about the past three months that have gone by much faster than my mind can comprehend. For the past week, of course, I had known I was leaving soon, but I could not comprehend it until now. I am no longer surrounded by the seven other people who make up my goofy and kind cohort, nor am I being guided by my incredible instructors, P’Bo and Hannah.

We did an activity during our excursion in Chiang Dao where there were many quotes, and we picked three: our favorite, one that challenged us, and one that changed the way we thought about something. Though I cannot remember the quote word for word, to sum it up, it said that we would never be the same person as we were in that exact moment at that time. That concept slowly began to haunt me (for lack of a better word) as my departure date from Chiang Mai came closer and closer. The quote hit me hardest as I said my last goodbyes to my peers and waved…

When people think about what makes Tufts a great school, the rigorous academics, bountiful extracurricular activities, and prime Boston location are often among the first attributes that come to mind. One often-overlooked, albeit in my opinion, equally important aspect is Tufts’ mascot, Jumbo the Elephant. Formerly the legendary centerpiece of P.T. Barnum’s circus, Jumbo has embodied Tufts for over 100 years, and his influence spans athletic fields, classrooms, and university lore. Simply, Jumbo provides Tufts with one of the most unique identities of any college in the country. Hence, as Jumbos, I feel that we should do our best to incorporate Jumbo’s wisdom and presence into our daily lives. Here are three ways to do just that. 

1. Walk by the Jumbo statue

Situated right in front of Barnum Hall on the Academic Quad, Jumbo’s 12-foot by 18-foot bronze incarnation has inhabited the locale in its current form since 2015. Whether you’re on your way to class, headed to the nearby Tisch…

Last Sunday, I participated in my final performance at Tufts. During my time at Tufts, I’ve performed in choir concerts, musicals, plays, fundraising cabarets, and more. Performing on stage is something I’ve loved to do since I was very young, and while this final exhibition at Tufts will most certainly not be my last, it felt extra special. 

The performance was Tufts University’s concert choir and chamber singers' spring concert. We performed Joseph Haydn’s Nelson Mass, as well as pieces by Rachmaninov, Abela, and others. What was so special about this concert was that four years ago, this had been my first performance at Tufts. Coming into Tufts, I knew I needed a break from performing. I had participated in music and theater nearly 24/7 from ages six to eighteen, and when I came to Tufts, I decided to take my first semester off from performing entirely. When the spring semester came around, my itch to perform came back stronger than ever, so I enrolled in the chamber singers music…

It’s a strange, bittersweet feeling knowing graduation is right around the corner. Sometimes I hate even talking about it because it makes leaving feel so real, and my mind starts running everywhere. Part of me is so proud of how far I’ve come, and another part isn’t ready to let go of everything that made Tufts feel like home.

Every time I think about what I’ll miss the most, the answer is always easy: the people. My friends who became family, the familiar faces, the little moments that somehow meant everything. I’ll miss the variety of courses Tufts has to offer too, starting my day with morning yoga, heading to the gym for weight training, and then taking a trip to a museum for my dinosaur class. And somehow, in the midst of it all, I still got to take classes that truly changed me, like Psychology of Anti-Black Racism and Global Health. Every class, especially within my majors in Clinical Psychology and Community Health and my minor in Child Studies & Human Development, shaped the…

Since I’m about to graduate soon, I’ve been taking the time to reflect on my past four years at Tufts. Each year, I experienced new things, faced different challenges, and developed lifelong friendships. When I think back to the beginning of college, I remember how Tufts slowly started to become a second home for me. Here are some of the core memories from fall semester of my first year that made my experience special:

Trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Each year, the Parnassus creative writing club goes on a field trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. During my first year the trip was at the beginning of the semester, when I still didn’t know anyone in the club that well. I really wanted to take the opportunity to visit the museum for free, so I decided to go. At the museum, I spent most of the time talking to another first-year named Madison, and we ended up getting dinner together when we got back to campus. Since then, Madison has been one of my closest friends…

After spending more than a total of 24 hours traveling, I was excited to see my parents. It had been the fastest three months of my life, and I was still trying to process everything as I sat in the Chiang Mai airport and then the Hong Kong airport. I ended up having plenty of time to reflect when I landed in Hong Kong, seeing as my flight kept getting delayed. All jokes set aside, as I walked through the doors at Logan to see my parents there waiting for me, I felt relief but also a longing to go back to the place I had just left. As we walked through the maze of Logan Airport, I thought about the stories I wanted to tell my parents on the car ride home. There was so much I wanted to say; however, my exhaustion caught up to me as I had fallen asleep as soon as the car started moving.

I was excited to give everyone their gifts and explain their meanings and provenance. I was particularly excited to give my sister the gifts for her wedding. She got married just three days after I got…

Hi Readers,

Something really cool I got to be a part of was working for Medtronic the summer after my first-year at Tufts. If you haven’t heard of them, they are a global medical device company that has a wide array of products. I got to work on one of their manufacturing sites where they made millions of long, skinny, flexible tubes that would go inside the body for things like heart valve replacement and deep brain stimulation. 

What I focused on more specifically was the technologies that make the different catheters (long skinny flexible tubes), and the intricate process it takes to manufacture them. This internship was between the summer of my first-year and sophomore year, under the Women in Science and Engineering program. So I was a part of a large cohort of female interns who were all rising freshmen and sophomores, trying to get experience in the medical device industry. While I was working at a site north of Boston, I also got to go to the Boston site and look at all the…

Since my first year at Tufts, I have been involved with the Tufts chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA). PPGA is the college chapter of the greater Planned Parenthood organization. At Tufts, our PPGA chapter focuses on advocacy, awareness, and fundraising efforts. Some of our past projects include: a menstrual product drive, a benefit concert, and a panel with the Bad Old Days Posse (a group of women who discuss their experiences pre-Roe v. Wade), and so much more!  

I am currently the vice president of the Tufts chapter of PPGA, and I have loved serving in a leadership position within the club, as it has allowed me not only to lead but also to work on exciting projects of my own design. This semester, I, along with some fellow students in the club, worked on one of my favorite projects yet: a book display in the Tisch Library. Along with being in PPGA, I am also an English major and an avid reader, so this project combined so many of my passions: reproductive rights…

My final blog! I’ve been staring at this blank page, and for once, I’m out of advice. Academics, admissions, clubs, housing, the ever-growing spreadsheet of blog ideas… I think I’ve covered all of what I can. But here I am, a senior in my last semester. And somewhere between that first post I wrote as a wide-eyed 18-year-old and this one, something shifted. Back then, I chose my words carefully, held my tongue, kept things polished and safe. I was still figuring out who I was, and it showed.

I think I know a little better now.

So for this last one, I’m not going to give you a guide or a list or a how-to. Instead, I want to reflect on what four years at Tufts actually taught me. Not about college, but about myself. And the people I’ve met along the way. Maybe some of what I’ve shared here will give you a sense of what to expect, or, at the very least, what’s possible.

When I toured Tufts in high school, my tour guide said something like, everyone here is nice. I’m not sure that’s entirely…

I’ll never forget the first day I met my friend Brian. It was the Sunday before Labor Day, September 3, 2023, three days before I began my first year at Tufts. That night, I joined a group of around 15 other new Jumbos on a trip to Yamato II, an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in Copley Square. Since our group was so large, we split into four tables, and I was randomly placed across from Brian. While we stuffed our stomachs with sushi, we bonded over our shared New Jersey roots and propensity for making jokes at the expense of the New York Jets. Over the last three years, Brian has become one of my closest friends at Tufts, and he’s currently one of my housemates. 

A little over two and a half years later, on March 14, 2026, Brian was the first familiar face I saw in a crowd of busy travelers, this time nearly 3,500 miles from Boston, at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. He and some of my other friends from Tufts were beginning a week-long exploration of Europe for their…

Every Community Health major at Tufts is required to complete an internship before they graduate. It is an incredible opportunity for professional development, and the department has countless resources connect students with opportunities in the Boston area. 

This semester, I am a Global Community Health intern at Partners in Health. Partners in Health is based out of the Prudential Center, which means that I get to finally live out my dream of working in the fanciest corporate building in Boston. I am also working with a research team at Harvard Medical School, so I split my time between the med school campus and the PIH office.

At the beginning of the internship, it was really intimidating to be surrounded by so many accomplished and intense people. I am not a medical student by any means (and I do in fact faint at the sight of blood) so I spent most of my first day at the med school dodging any potential patient interaction. 

However, as the internship went on, I realized how much…

My connection with HSF actually started before I even set foot on the Tufts campus. I applied to be an HSF Scholar during my senior year of high school. That early engagement laid the groundwork for me to attend their National Leadership Conference (NLC) during the summer before my sophomore year. As a Hispanic student, stepping into a room full of…

One of my favorite things about how artsy Tufts students are is the number of art sales and arts and crafts fairs that pop up across campus. It’s a really fun way to see what your peers are up to and support your friends, but it’s also genuinely educational, offering a practical introduction to pricing, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

At first, putting a price on your work can feel strange. What is it based on? Do you factor in hourly labor? Materials? Marketing costs? Events like the SMFA Art Sale, the Sidewalk Sale, and arts and crafts fairs hosted by the Asian American Center, Tufts Community Union, Sex Health Reps, and others are great places to start figuring this out. They’re also complemented by support from the Career Center, professors, and upperclassmen, who can be incredibly helpful when you’re first navigating these questions.

The SMFA Art Sale is the big one. It’s huge—thousands of works, hundreds of artists—and it brings together students, alumni, faculty, staff, and…