I remember the first Rose/Becker Cafe Series I ever attended last year featured Prof Schwartz in Prof Blalock’s apartment. Almost all of the scholars crammed inside Prof Blalock’s living room, huddled around Prof Schwartz as he gave out his words of wisdom. His talk was one of the first talks I’ve heard here, and I thought his advice was extremely fitting for kickstarting the new year. I wrote last year that his advice was useful, applicable, but nothing new we haven’t heard before: study hard, prepare for the future early, take advantage of internship opportunities, keep on moving forward, make meaningful connections with professors, and challenge yourself by taking on new experiences outside your comfort zone. His sentiments definitely ring true, and they’re definitely strong, wise words we should strive to follow and remember as we take on this new year.

After attending his talk this year, I found many similar themes in his talks between the years. The ideas of the 3 R’s (resilience, resourcefulness, and resolve) and “time is time” and “find your own niche” resonate again and again. On one hand, I’m thinking “yep, I’ve heard this so many times before,” but on the other hand, it’s interesting to look around the room and see new Rose scholars looking and listening to Prof Schwartz earnestly, trying to soak in every syllable of advice. I remember how I felt when I first listened to him last year. I felt apprehensive, concerned, and eager all at the same time as a new transfer student. I felt that yes, ideally a great student would do everything he said, but his advice was easier said than done. But then I think back to how I have changed in the past year; his advice about finding a niche, and becoming involved, and getting to know professors didn’t seem so foreign the second time around. Through the past year, I worked as an undergrad researcher, a student advisor, and I even run a peer mentorship program to make research accessible to new students, and I found myself giving similar advice as Prof Schwartz did to new students who are now in my old shoes last year.

I was really glad I was able to hear Prof Schwartz speak again, and it was especially valuable to hear him a full year later.  It’s like that feeling of not fully appreciating your parents’ words of wisdom until you’ve grown older yourself and can look back on your experiences. It’s like “aha, they were right all along!” Listening to him really made me reflect on how I’ve changed in the past year; I’m glad the new Rose scholars this year got to hear him as the first speaker of the Rose/Becker Cafe Series and I’m excited to see what changes this upcoming year brings!