A Bear at for Life!
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Graduate-level study at a U.S. university is not just about coursework and research, it's also about new experiences and discovering yourself.
n American academic degree is often linked to better career prospects and job security, but we tend to forget the invaluable experience of learning—not just our course material, but about ourselves as well. I have always believed that leaving family and friends behind to travel, on my first-ever flight, thousands of miles to a new place to live among people from all over the world must be about more than just academic pursuits. I had applied to six universities, got into five of them, and ultimately decided to pursue a master’s in chemical engineering from the University of Cincinnati (UC) in the fall of 2012. I had a vague idea about “GradLife” but upon getting to Cincinnati and speaking to fellow graduate students, some said it was all about coursework and research while others said that it’s reading literature and writing your thesis that gave you nightmares. A different set of folks said it’s student employment that will need a lot of getting used to. Responses seemed to be based on personal experiences and all of them were different. That made me feel that my experiences might just be very different from all of theirs. I had often asked myself, “What am I going to take away in addition to my degree when I leave this place?” This question was my guiding principle during grad life, in the pursuit of learning about myself. I also keenly observed Photographs by Bearcat2011/ Courtesy Wikipedia
Below and below right: Sid Thatham pursued his master’s in chemical engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
By SID THATHAM
38 EDITION 2 2022
the college life that students had which was so different from my undergrad experience back home. As a grad student, I often asked myself how it would be possible to experience some of those aspects of college life. The easiest way to find answers to these questions was to get involved on campus. I was the president of the Indian Student Association, a two-time vice president of the graduate student body, part of the search committee for UC president, the business lead for Hyperloop UC and an international ambassador for UC. I have also participated in TEDxUCincinnati and TEDxCincinnati. My time on campus, the variety of professional and academic opportunities, and cultural diversity I experienced have helped me grow as a person. On-campus involvement has played a major role in my learning about equity along with diversity and inclusion. For international students who’ve only lived in a racially homogenous country, the value of racial diversity and inclusion was an alien concept as a kid. The cultural diversity in the United States is like nowhere else. My involvement with the UC’s Racial Awareness Program (RAPP) was such an eye-opening experience and contributed a great deal toward my understanding of life in the United States and people in general. I learned that “diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” Through friends from RAPP, I got a chance to be a volunteer for TEDxCincinnati for three years. As a kid growing up in India, I’d always wanted to watch a TEDx event live since they weren’t big in my city back then. During this time, I was also a part of the first-ever Hyperloop team on campus and had a chance to do a TEDx talk about the student team. It was nerve-racking to speak in front of more than 800 people, but I got to overcome my
