by Geneva Strauss-Wise

Portland native Geneva participated in the 2011 high school World Learning IYLEP exchange in Louisville, Kentucky. Below she shares how her participation in IYLEP helped guide her decision of where to attend college.

After returning from IYLEP feeling like a new person, I couldn’t wait to express all my newly discovered idealism and interests in the daunting stack of college essays that awaited me. At first, I planned on applying to maybe five colleges, my top choice being Smith College in Massachusetts. Several weeks after applying “early decision,” (by the early deadline) though, I found out I had been accepted to my top college and luckily didn’t have to apply anywhere else.

After participating in IYLEP, a new passion in social work, the Middle East, and gender studies (in addition to a million other things) had arisen, all seemingly fitting perfectly into the strong and confident scheme of Smith College.

Smith College is a women’s college, and before I applied, the idea of attending such a place was daunting. Fortunately, during IYLEP, I met Heron, an undergrad student attending Wellesley College.  Heron had thoroughly gained my trust through her facilitation and participation in our small discussion groups, so when she gave a small soapbox speech rooting for women’s colleges, I became pretty convinced of my choice.

In my application to Smith College, I wrote about my wonderful experience with IYLEP and the curiosity it had unleashed in me. I am so excited to attend this college next year and build off of the discoveries established from with my experiences with IYLEP.

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