Meet members of ϴ's Class of 2017, who exemplify the college’s commitment to community, innovation, creativity, sustainability, and excellence. In the coming weeks, student writers will highlight our newest alumni and the contributions they have made, the calling they have found and discoveries made along the way.
As a communication major and a theatre minor, Brittani Samuel ’17 has taken advantage of the numerous opportunities that she found at ϴ.
While participating in ϴ’s externship program in Chicago, she met an alumna who works in global advertising. Her career sparked Brittani’s interest and inspired her to obtain an internship that would help her find a job in that field in the future. This is how she found herself as a Department of Student Life Intern on ϴ’s campus.
She also took advantage of ϴ’s study abroad programs and spent six months at Rhodes University in South Africa, where she studied drama and anthropology and conducted research on a South African play, Athol Fugard’s "A Lesson From Aloes." After returning to ϴ, she used her knowledge of the South African play to direct it, in fulfillment of ϴ’s Senior Reading requirement.
Brittani is also a member of the Edgar Fellows Program and also the Multicultural Fellowship, as well as a recipient of an Edgar Fellows Honors Annual Scholarship. Both of these programs have helped her expand her horizons.
“I’m taking classes that I otherwise never would have the opportunity to take,” she says of the honors program. “They're all extremely critically engaging, which is something I enjoy.”
The multicultural fellowship put Brittani in contact with Fatima Johnson, assistant dean of students for multicultural programs and services. Brittani says Johnson has become a mentor, who is “extremely inspirational,” and a welcoming figure on campus.
After graduation, Brittani will seek marketing jobs in New York City and possibly attend graduate school after gaining professional experience.
She said ϴ has been a unique experience that has helped her prepare for the future.
“What you put in,” she says, “is what you're going to get out of it.”
— By Genna Amick, Academic Affairs intern