Cogno Interview Series: My Friend Alea

I met my friend Alea ('21) sophomore year when we both joined Penn's Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) as EMT's. Through our shared shifts and meetings, we have grown extremely close. Alea has an interesting path of study which I thought would be great to highlight!

Q: What is your major/minors?

A: My major is Health and Societies (HSOC) with a concentration in Global Health. I am also minoring in Neuroscience and Chemistry.

Q: How did you pick your major?

A: I picked HSOC after taking HSOC 010 on a whim with the amazing Andi Johnson. I went on to take HSOC 150 with her and her courses inspired me to pursue a thesis in the dept. However, I’ve also always been intrigued by the sciences and ended up taking neuro classes out of pure interest, so I ended up deciding to minor in it.

Q: What extracurriculars are you involved in and why did you join them?

A: I am involved with Penn Symphony Orchestra, GlobeMed at Penn, and Penn MERT. These clubs, all of which I have been involved in since freshman/sophomore year, represent my three passions – music, global health, and emergency medicine. I’ve played the violin since elementary school, and PSO has been one of my strongest communities at Penn since the first week of my freshman year. Both MERT and GlobeMed have allowed me to engage with the Penn community from a service perspective and motivated me to eventually pursue an MD/MPH.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the College of Arts and Sciences?

A: I really appreciate how the College allows us to take pretty advanced classes outside of our major without having to complete multiple prerequisites beforehand. For example, I am currently enrolled in my first Near Eastern Language and Civilizations (NELC) seminar ever on Middle Eastern migration. It’s only a 15 person class and involves topics which I’m not super familiar with; however, it’s given me the opportunity to pursue classwork I’m deeply interested in, even if it’s outside my major (I wrote my HSOC thesis on healthcare for refugees in Philadelphia, many of whom migrated from MENA countries).

Q: What do you wish you had done differently or what advice do you have to incoming freshmen?

A: I wish I had given myself more of a chance to explore certain College gen ed classes to help me decide on a major rather than jumping straight into a certain curriculum. I declared HSOC pretty late in my sophomore year, and I wish I had discovered HSOC courses earlier so I could take more of them across my time at Penn.

-Kaitlyn B.