Princeton is my home

Within my first semester, I remember telling my family that I felt “blissfully average,” in the best way. I grew up in suburban South Carolina, where academic curiosity was not always encouraged, and I often felt out of place. At Princeton, I found myself surrounded by peers who shared that curiosity, and I felt grounded rather than intimidated.

I became deeply involved in student life, often in roles that connected people, processes, and institutions. I worked in a student agency (the Taproom Cafe), held leadership roles in multiple student organizations, served on USG committees, and worked as a Dormitory Assistant during my junior and senior years. In these roles, and later as ORL affiliate staff, I was entrusted with responsibilities requiring discretion, reliability, and institutional fluency. I often found myself translating between lived student experience and University policy, coordinating across stakeholders, and helping systems function more smoothly. I truly loved the work I did.

In recent years, after taking a career break from higher education to assist with family caregiving, I have reconnected with Princeton through alumni events and the Stand Up for Princeton initiative. These have clarified my desire to return as a member of the University’s professional staff. As always, I am drawn to work that supports people, sustains systems, and helps institutions operate with integrity over time. Princeton’s seriousness about education, its engagement with complexity, and its long-term sense of institutional responsibility are values I share, and the reason I continue to imagine my future here.

For several years, I was the face of Princeton’s undergraduate housing website, though I didn’t realize until recently that it offered a kind of serendipitous foreshadowing. Beside my photo were the words “At Home on Campus,” and they remain true: Princeton is where I have always felt a deep sense of belonging and purpose.