Today, we speak with Kasey DiSessa, a junior English and Biological Sciences major from Hackettstown (Warren County), NJ, who lives on campus in the Whitney Center. Kasey will share her #PROFspective with us on what it’s like to be a Rowan University student and how she’s getting the most out of her college experience as a Rowan Prof.
Name: Kasey DiSessa
Major: English & Biological Sciences
Concentrations: Honors concentration
Year: Sophomore based on years in college, junior based on credits
Hometown and County: Hackettstown, NJ (Warren County)
On Campus Resident: Yes, Whitney Center
Academic clubs: Secondary Education Club (Philanthropy Chair), BLAST (Bantivoglio Leadership and Service Training) Mentor
Social clubs: Circle K, Habitat for Humanity, Honors Book Group, Honors Stress Relief Group
Do you work on campus? Yes, in the Philosophy & Religion Studies Department. I help run errands—especially getting my daily steps by hanging up fliers around campus—for professors so they can have more time in their offices and with students.
Why did you choose your major? I’ve always wanted to be an English teacher, so that was my original plan. I love helping people learn new things, and I love reading and writing; I get a lot of satisfaction from analyzing books and poems. However, I also love science and think living things are extremely interesting. Thus I was convinced to become a dual-certified teacher, and to get my master’s in education (hopefully from Rowan!) after finishing my subject content. I’m really excited to be able to take three things I’m passionate about—that don’t seem to have any potential career overlap—and combine them in a way that allows me to continue to pursue and embrace all of them.
One reason why you chose Rowan? This was really the only school I could imagine myself attending, but I also loved the multiple options that the education track offered (double bachelor’s or master’s). People also like to tease me that I came here for the mascot because I’ve always loved owls—I think it’s just a happy turn of fate.
My Typical Day as a Rowan Student:
My day usually starts around 7 am; I have an 8 am three days a week and don’t like sleeping anyway. I always make myself breakfast and have learned since having my own kitchen that parsley makes everything better, especially omelets. I’m very proud of the fact that I cook at least once and sometimes twice every day and still have not managed to set off the fire alarm; sometimes it feels like not many people in Whitney can say that!
On Mondays and Wednesdays I spend my time in Brit Lit I, Shakespeare I, and work at the Philosophy department—these are my humanities days, and I love them. It’s always really fun to go into class thinking “Wow, I read way too much into this, there’s no way the author meant this,” and to leave class knowing that “Wow, okay, everybody who ever wrote anything is a clever genius and I am also a genius for figuring it out.” Every other Wednesday I get to nerd out at Honors Book Group with some of the only other people who take books at least half as seriously as I do, and I love it.
My Tuesdays start at 8am with US Lit I followed by Intro to Cell Biology and Chemistry II, either lecture or lab. These days are definitely longer than Mondays and Wednesdays, but just as rewarding, if in different ways. After classes on Tuesdays I let myself relax with Honors Stress Group and alternate on a weekly basis between attending Circle K and Secondary Education Club.
On Fridays I drag myself out of bed for an 8am bio lab where my lab partners shake their heads at my shaky hands and usually take the pipettes away from me. After that I head back to Bunce for work for a few hours, then take an hour off before my chemistry lecture at 3:30, where a test or quiz is almost sure to be waiting for me.
On weekends I fit in most of my volunteering hours and somehow still manage to have some fun sometimes—often by my boyfriend and/or roommates and I taking turns forcing each other to watch Shakespeare plays and really bad movies and TV shows, all of which I love.
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Story organized and photography by:
Vanessa Vause, junior public relations major and advertising minor