Why Tufts: The Rewrite

WE ASK CURRENT STUDENTS TO TACKLE THE NEW TUFTS SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS

SHANNON CLOHERTY ’22 COMMUNITY HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES MAJOR FROM BRAINTREE, MA

Portrait of Shannon

From being a member of Peer Health Exchange to a teaching assistant to a FOCUS coordinator and leader to a Civic Pathways instructor through the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Shannon embodies the Tufts qualities of being humble, an active citizen, and a changemaker. When she’s not working as a treasurer of the Leonard Carmichael Society or tutoring Latin, you can find her enjoying Oath Pizza or a smoothie bowl from Hotung. We know that Shannon gives her all in everything that she does and we hope that you see a glimpse into her world here.

Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short, “Why Tufts?”

When I originally chose Tufts, I was unenthusiastic, uninterested, and terrified. The first time I remember not feeling terrified was during pre-orientation when my leaders brought out olive oil and parmesan cheese to have with a baguette they’d bought, because I’d mentioned earlier in passing that it was my favorite way to eat bread. My group and I sat on the floor and devoured the baguette. I remember my fears shrinking next to my growing love for my leaders, new friends, and hope for the future. Every day since then, sharing meals with friends has been the best way to laugh, commiserate, and just be together in each other’s company. I would choose Tufts over again in a heartbeat to be with the kind of people who bring you olive oil and cheese with bread to replace a little bit of your fear.

It’s cool to love learning, what excites your intellectual curiosity?

My first semester at Tufts, I took Intro to Environmental Studies (ENV 1) with Dr. Ninian Stein, which is still one of my favorite classes I have taken. I had not previously understood that environmental studies is so much more than environmental science. One of the first assignments we completed in the class was related to our understanding of “place.” Dr. Stein pushed us to consider that the things we believe about our relationship to our environments are shaped by the places with which we are familiar. We can use our understanding of one place, our favorite place or the place we know best, to shape how we approach reading and understanding new places. ENV 1 helped me develop my ability to read a place and thoughtfully consider why it is the way it is, how it was in the past, and how it could be in the future. This was transformative for me as a student of environmental studies. Understanding the natural environment, the built environment, and all of the complex factors influencing the environment can seem incredibly daunting, but the task of comprehending a place or a series of places becomes easier when you’ve built a foundation of reading a landscape that you know intimately. Sometimes the best gateway to learning about new things is right in our backyard, literally, and that is very exciting to me.