Alyssa Goldstein

What is the most fundamental change you’ve experienced since your time as a first-year student?

My freshman year was marked by many COVID restrictions, with masks, different class modalities, and few in-person functions. My first year, it was hard to feel like a true college student. But in time, I came into my own as a true Demon Deacon! I got to sit in the student section at football, basketball, baseball, and soccer games. I got to participate in our well-known annual traditions of Hit the Bricks, Project Pumpkin, President’s Ball, and Lovefeast. In my last three years at Wake, I have had the pleasure of a great Wake experience.

What non-academic experience at Wake Forest was most meaningful to you?

Studying abroad was a transformative experience for me. I went to Salamanca, Spain the spring of my junior year as part of the Spanish Immersion Program. At Wake, I had taken classes and learned about Spanish language, literature, and culture from a distance. But going to Spain, I finally had the chance to immerse myself in a culture other than mine.

And what a fulfilling experience it was! The relationships I fostered with my host mother, multiple professors, the directors of the program, and Dr. Irma Alarcón (the Wake professor that accompanied us) I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Studying abroad was a big challenge. Not only was it my first time out of the country by myself, but very little English is spoken in Salamanca, so I really had to throw myself into a new language. And from this experience, I learned that it’s okay to make mistakes! It’s okay to make grammatical mistakes or to conjugate a verb incorrectly. With time you learn, and you learn that the most important thing is to be understood by those you’re speaking with.

I HIGHLY recommend studying abroad to any incoming student!

What was your favorite class outside your major or minor areas of study and why did it appeal to you?

Outside of my majors – but still associated with my career goals – a favorite class I took was in Health & Exercise Science, HES 232: Emergency Medical Responder. This class was unique in that it was hands-on, constantly learning by doing. We spent many 6:00-10:00 nights together, but Dave Lockwood (our professor) made sure to keep things interesting with different scenarios or stories about his time with Baptist AirCare. By the end of the semester, we earned our EMR certifications, a fulfilling culmination of hard work.

The class wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as it was if not for the classmates and professor. I took the class my sophomore year, and I keep in touch with some of my classmates. After the semester ended, I even got to meet up with Dave and a few classmates at Cin Cin for a meal!

Wake Forest has lots of traditions, and sometimes students create their own. Do you have a favorite Wake Forest tradition?

My favorite tradition at Wake is Project Pumpkin! I had the pleasure of participating in planning the event since my sophomore year. In 2021, the pandemic still put restrictions on our events, but this marked a change in the implementation of Project Pumpkin: this is when we started going out to celebrate in the greater Winston-Salem community. Instead of having the event on campus, we ventured out to community centers in the area for a Halloween celebration (with the underlying goal of raising money for the Freedom School).

When I started as Student Director for the 2022 event, we had a choice to make: should we revert back to the regular on-campus tradition, or branch out to community centers? And our answer? Why not do both! I had the privilege, along with the PP leadership team and Cazandra Rebollar (staff member from the Wake Forest Office of Civic and Community Engagement), to simultaneously bring this fall tradition back to campus for the first time since 2019 while also celebrating at community centers in the area for the second year. The planning process required lots of hard work, constant communication with outside organizations, and troubleshooting. But in the end, it was absolutely worth seeing how excited and energetic the kids were during our celebrations!

Now that you are a graduating student, what advice do you wish you could have given yourself as an incoming student four years ago?

My first piece of advice would be to dedicate your time doing things you enjoy doing. Your academics are going to be rigorous (it is Wake Forest after all!), so your extracurriculars should be an enjoyable way to spend your time. My junior and senior years, I truly found my calling with a few different opportunities. The earlier you can find those things, the better!

My second piece of advice is to build relationships with and keep in touch with your professors and advisors! They’re there to teach you material, but also to guide you through one of the most stressful yet rewarding times of your life. Get yourself a professor like Dr. González who will bring you figs from his garden after you told him you’ve never tried them before. Or get yourself a lab group like Dr. Hollis’s, where we regularly went to Friday lunches as a team. Professors are people too, and getting to know them better is a great experience!

Compare your career plans as a first-year student with your career plans now. Why did your plans change or not change?

My career plans as a first-year student were very similar to my career plans now. At first, there was a thought that I’d go to medical school directly following undergrad, but I have decided to take a gap year. After the gap year, I plan to attend medical school and utilize what I’ve learned about the Spanish language to aid in my patient care.