I chose Princeton because I loved books; because I wanted to write a thesis; because I fell in love with the Chancellor Green library when I first visited campus; because I saw the integrity in the university’s commitment to service, and because I thought I wanted to study comparative literature (spoiler: I’m a politics major!). I chose Princeton because I saw passion and curiosity and energy reflected in every aspect of the university.
At Princeton University, I feel I have unlimited opportunities to discover new things and take the initiative in my learning.
In my first year, I enrolled in the Humanities Sequence, an interdisciplinary “great books” programme in which we read 26 books each semester. There, I discovered my passion for Hellenic studies, for The Aeneid, and for the philosopher and poet Dante (I even started taking Italian last fall).
The following summer, I spent six weeks in Greece through the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, where I had the opportunity to unite the pieces of Greek history that I had studied, with the origins of those works.
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In my third semester, I lugged my six-pound American Constitutional Interpretation textbook from library to library, reading through case after case for Professor Robert George’s course “constitutional interpretation”. I simultaneously studied the history and formation of the United States’ form of diplomacy in “history of US foreign relations,” a course where my professor’s interesting narrative-based lectures left my fingers sore from non-stop writing.
This past semester, as I struggled to remain motivated through challenging coursework, I pursued extracurricular projects that excited me: volunteering as an ESL (English as a second language) tutor, helping to organise a charity event for Eden Autism Services, a local resource centre for children with autism, and organising, developing and executing a tour of the Princeton University Art Museum focusing exclusively on women artists and their work.
My passions have evolved through the influences of my courses, my professors, my extracurricular involvements, my classmates, and the university itself.
Life at Princeton is busy but it is this energy and momentum, present in all aspects of university life and in all of the students, that makes it such an interesting place to be. The student body is incredibly diverse and this diversity encourages curiosity across the campus.
Peyton Lawrenz is a politics major at Princeton University
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