Name: Vidhi Dwivedi

Major: Communication Arts and Sciences

Minor: Business

Graduation Date: May 7, 2022

Vidhi Dwivedi, who will receive her bachelor of arts degree in communication arts and sciences at Penn State Brandywine’s spring 2022 commencement ceremony on May 7, reflects on her time as a student at Brandywine.

Dwivedi: I chose Penn State Brandywine after finding out how diverse and inclusive the campus is. Because it's a small campus, I thought I'd be able to connect with a lot of people and have that one-on-one interaction and connection with professors. And also because it would allow me to be close to my family as well, because I stay with them.

Initially, I was involved in our Marketing and Communications Club and our Multicultural Club. And then as a junior, I got involved with the Chancellor's Commission for Racial and Ethnic Justice and the Chancellor's Commission for Empowering Women. I was one of the few students who provided input, gave ideas, researched, talked to staff and faculty, and kind of helped us come up with these plans that hopefully we'll be able to implement in Penn State Brandywine.

Last year I became the secretary for our Student Government Association and I've had a lot of fun. It's been very fruitful to see change that our SGA is doing and working with fellow students across the campus. And lastly, last year in April, I became a Lion Guidez peer mentor to help onboard first-generation students and first-year students and give them my support or any kind of resources that I could provide because college can feel like such a maze during that time.

When I started Brandywine, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew that I would want to graduate and maybe I would want to study again, get a master's right after college or get a job right after college. I didn't know specifically where or what field, but I knew that this would be the trajectory. And I think as I went through college, I kind of loosened myself up and allowed myself to take a breath and understand myself and what I wanted to do. And so, my goal did change. I'm not getting my master's now. I will eventually, but I'm taking a month break, I am going back home to India, just relaxing. I think I've earned it. And then I'm starting an internship in culture and engagement to kind of get a feel for whether this field, whether the position that I'm doing is something that I do want to pursue long term. And then I'll see where life takes me.

I think everything about my college experience surprised me because I didn't expect myself to get that American college experience. All my life I grew up thinking I would be pursuing my bachelor’s back in India. And so every single thing about college here was surprising to me. No matter how much you see it in the movies, it's just something completely new and something that you have to experience for yourself to understand. And so I think that everything about it was exciting, was surprising. And I just couldn't believe myself at some points that I was sitting there in class, studying in college.

This campus gave me the opportunity and the space to grow, to be a part of different organizations, to interact not only with students, but also with faculty, with staff, with people I would've never thought of working with. So I think that not only helped me gain confidence, helped my self-esteem. I think it also helped me forge a lot of relationships with my professors and my friends that I think I will keep in contact with even after graduation. I think that it was very important for me to fully immerse myself in this campus.