Aaron S.
Alumnus at Tulane University
He/him/his
Class of 2024
Current: New Orleans, LA
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
Major: Psychology
Secondary Major: Philosophy
Alumnus at Tulane University
He/him/his
Class of 2024
Current: New Orleans, LA
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
Major: Psychology
Secondary Major: Philosophy
My favorite spot in New Orleans is Joe Brown Park in New Orleans East. Joe Brown is a medium-sized park that has a football stadium, basketball courts, many playgrounds, as well as a full lagoon. Every Saturday in the fall and spring, New Orleans' recreation department - NORD Outdoors - hosts free canoeing and fishing for anyone who wants to come. People can just show up and paddle around the lagoon or relax on the fishing doc looking for catfish. This was the first place that I served in the city; Working with NORD Outdoors taught me the value of talking to people and learning from their experiences. I would get to talk to all sorts of people, from school principals and teachers to New Orleans politicians and leaders. This was the first time that I really felt connected to the city and was able to make a connection to the awesome place where I live.
My favorite NOLA festival is Jazzfest. I've been playing and listening to jazz for my entire life, so New Orleans was naturally a place I wanted to look at for college. Jazzfest is my favorite festival because I get to hear all of these amazing musicians play the music that was born in this city. During jazzfest, music and history flood down the streets, no matter where in the city you are. You can feel the culture and previous influences of some of the greatest musicians in history just by going to one jazzfest concert. It perfectly encapsulates everything that New Orleans is: although this city has dark periods, everyone here comes together and celebrates the great parts of the city, like jazz.
I wanted a place where I was able to try different majors and activities, without having to stress about which I wanted to pick up and choose. Tulane makes it incredibly easy for students to explore their options. I went into college thinking I knew what I wanted to study, but after a few semesters, what I initially thought I was interested in, turned out to not be right for me. During this period of unsurity, my advisor was extremely helpful at finding classes that I might like to try. My advisor also connected me to Tulane's success coaching, where I was able to find the right combination of study strategies for some of the new subjects I tried. The other reason I chose Tulane is because I love community service, and Tulane encourages students to go out and doing service around the city. Everyone at Tulane has inherent privilege to be able to come to this beautiful city and study at one of the best schools in the country. It is important to me to use some of what I have to make the city a better place. I love that Tulane helps connect their students to different community service projects because it motivates us to give back.
My favorite class so far at Tulane was my personality psychology class. I have always loved the study of personality, even though I didn't realize it, so taking the class gave me terms to describe how I already think which is awesome. I ended up enjoying it so much that I reached out to my professor, even though he doesn't even work at Tulane anymore, and am now doing a research project with him virtually this semester. Having an opportunity to run a full research project as a Junior is awesome and I'm so glad that class got me interested in personality.