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Humans of Lafayette College, Easton, PA (2026)

05/27/2020

“My story didn’t really start until I decided to go to Lafayette because that was really the first decision I made by myself. Until I went to college, I was really just going with the flow. I didn’t have a lot of freedom at home or at school and didn’t have a sense of individuality. I really only did what was expected of me, no more or less. College was a chance for me to learn what freedom feels like and use it to build a sense of self. My endgame has always been freedom. It's such an abstract concept but for me, freedom means the mental and physical capacity to let myself do what I want. I hold myself back from a lot of things and make many sacrifices for my family, and I don’t regret any of it. But at some point, I want to feel like I can put myself first without feeling guilty about it. It has taken a lot of hard work, but I feel like I’m almost there. Everyone always says that college is a journey of self-discovery, but that was the full truth for me. I went in as a blank canvas and I’m excited to see what kind of painting came out from these four years.”
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What's next for you in life after Lafayette?
“The world, literally. I am giving into my wanderlust by looking for job opportunities overseas. I am currently on track to be in South Korea next winter and am working on making this relocation permanent through full-time employment in higher education and/or grad school. I am planning for a long life of travel and I can only hope that I get to live up to my own expectations!”

05/23/2020

“The road not taken by Robert Frost is one of my favorite poems. The speaker of the poem evokes the notion that choosing a path that many people don’t take makes a difference, but it’s ambiguous whether that leads to sorrow or triumph. I think that speaks to my story because I’ve chosen many paths that others did not take, paths that often promised success and glory. But the road I took led me to where I am today and it grew me as a person. I’m the first in my family to do many things, including going away from home for College which was a path I took that made all the difference.
College was quite a time. I didn’t expect to make such amazing friends but I did. I didn’t expect to grow so much in such a short amount of time. College was a time of intellectual growth, personal and spiritual renewal and triumph. The past four years showed me where I was toxic and needed to change, and I’m thankful for the outcome of this experience.”
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Esther is a senior of the graduating Class of 2020 , and so I asked her about one thing she would have wanted to do before leaving as well her aspirations after graduation. Here is what she had to say, “I already left (sad face). However before the Rona took my senior spring, I wanted to host a series of discussions surrounding mental health in students of color and stress culture. In the fall, I will start my Ed.M in Psychological counseling at Columbia University. “

05/22/2020

“I have done a lot in my life but I am most proud of the role I played in creating and developing the Lafayette College Emergency Medical Services (LCEMS). I began volunteering with LCEMS in the Spring of 2018. At the time, the club was still in its infancy as it had just recently been founded. I decided to run for a leadership position to continue developing LCEMS. I began my junior year as the secretary but my role soon evolved into much more than that. I helped develop a relationship with our community EMS agency and secured a partnership with them resulting in LCEMS becoming a subsidiary of Easton Emergency Squad. I spent countless hours developing standard operating procedures, bylaws, training procedures, and disciplinary procedures. I was also facing pushback from administration members who were not eager to embrace change. It took numerous meetings between myself and Lafayette administrators, where I fought to prove the legitimacy of our organization and the overwhelmingly positive effect we would have on the community, for us to finally come to an agreement. Because of the work I put in along with other LCEMS leaders, we were able to respond to our first call less than a year after we achieved club status. This past year, I served as president and was able to lead LCEMS as it continued to grow and impact our community by providing emergency medical care to both the Lafayette and Easton communities, running education and philanthropy events, and partnering with other organizations. I never imagined we would be able to achieve all that we have in such a short amount of time. Being involved in LCEMS has not only made me a stronger and more empathetic healthcare provider but also a more confident and knowledgeable leader. My role in LCEMS has been extremely transformative and showed me that I am capable of much more than I ever thought.”
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What’s next? Rachael is a graduating senior of the Class of 2020 and here is what she had to say, “This summer I will be staying in Easton working as an EMT at three local EMS agencies serving my community during the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, I will be moving to Philadelphia to pursue my Masters in Biomedical Sciences at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. After obtaining my Masters, I will be applying to medical school to pursue a career as an emergency/trauma physician.”

05/21/2020

“Eight years ago, my hands felt a block of unwedged, stoneware clay for the first time. That first day at my high school’s Pottery Club was the birth of my love for creating ceramic pieces. Be it hand building, throwing on the wheel, or glazing, molding a new object from a blob of nothingness allowed me to channel my creative energy into a productive outlet. The serenity that comes with producing art offers me a temporary escape from the pressures of academic and social scenes. For my first year and a half at Lafayette College, I yearned to be in the presence of unformed clay. I could no longer tolerate the campus’s ceramic deficiencies. My passion for this hobby motivated me to collaborate with another pottery lover. By the second semester of my sophomore year, we co-founded Lafayette’s first Pottery Club. As president of Pottery Club, I was able to share the joy of being able to fashion something splendid with your own two hands.”
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Rochelle is a graduating senior of the Class of 2020 and so I asked about her aspirations following graduating to which she said, “After Lafayette, I will pursue my Masters for Gifted Education at Columbia University.”

05/10/2019

“This is going to be a really cheesy answer, but love. I think that the reason we are placed on this Earth is to give and receive as much love as we can in our lifetime. So I would say that every person should experience the feeling of genuine and pure love at least once in their lifetime. In order for people to experience pure love the world needs to be more empathetic. I think a lot of the issues that we face today stem from people being unable to put themselves in someone else's shoes. People only care about how things affect them and are never able to consider the greater good.”

12/24/2018

"I was assaulted during my junior year of high school. The day after the assault, I reported it to the school and the administration ended up telling the report to a mutual friend. Word spread around the school which led to me being harassed every day in the hallway. Guys would tape condoms to my locker, consistently slapped my ass whenever I walked down the hall. Every other week I would have the words, ‘whore’, ‘slut’ or ‘good f**k’ written all over my locker with a sharpie. It got so bad that I had to change schools halfway across the country.

In March, two months after I transferred, two of my friends contacted me saying they too were assaulted by the same guy. He was not reported, didn’t get any jail time, and was able to graduate, while I had to uproot my life and leave everything behind.

During my freshman year of college, I met four incredible people named Sam, Nahin, Nina, and Reeve, who decided to start this groundbreaking organization called Pards Against Sexual Assault (PASA). It is a student-led organization on campus. Our goal is to educate students about sexual misconduct and preventative measures to help create a safe campus for all students. We [PASA] have the tools and a lot of students don't know how to use them so we want to show the students on campus how to use those tools. It's as simple as saying ‘Me too’; ‘It happened to me too’.

I wish I would have reached out more; I wish I would have told my parents sooner and trusted my friends a lot more. I feel like with something as serious as sexual misconduct, whether it is somebody touching your bottom or physically attacking you, if you don’t have a good support system already in place on campus or at home, it is only going to lead to so many other negative things in life.

It was through Take Back The Night last November, where I was finally able to come to terms with my assault. It is because of those four incredible people that I am a peer educator, I can share resources that the college provides, I can become a close confidant for other students that want to report their assault.

I’m not gonna lie, the work is not easy, it’s tough. There are days when I wonder if I have the strength to continue doing it and there are other days when I feel on top of the world and I feel so proud that I’m able to do the work that needs to be done on campus. And to essentially create a safer space for students to come forward and report their assault. But it’s also very emotional and I know I’ve only been a member of PASA officially for about four months now, but I can't tell you how many times I’ve just stayed in my room and cried because of the accounts that I’ve gotten and the stories shared by other people on campus. I’ve even had some of my closest friends and people who I’ve barely known to tell me stories about their r**e and assaults, or even just them walking home alone at night and just seeing the guys looking at them like they’re “fresh meat”.

Its okay to be scared because a lot of the times just coming up to one person and sharing your story is such a terrifying moment. But once you do that, I can't speak for other people but for me, it was such an empowering moment and it lifted me from being a victim to becoming a survivor. "

09/16/2018

I’m Billy from Philly. I grew up just west of the city, born and raised on the streets of Wynnewood and Bryn Mawr. Currently, I'm the founder and CEO of Philly Tutors, a small tutoring business in Philadelphia. I majored in American Studies during my time at Lafayette College, which is why I started teaching mainly Social Studies to seventh graders in Philadelphia.
Philly Tutors provides SAT, ACT, and test prep, essay writing and scholarship help along with colleges visits. We also do school advising where we assist families in the process of finding the right college. We do tabletop gaming clubs where students play fun games that incorporate math and literacy. There are a lot of resources available in the Philadelphia area which are free programs and nonprofits that kids can take advantage of; so we form partnerships and exchange resources with them.
It's definitely challenging, especially running a business without a business background. I did not take any business classes here at Lafayette but I did take one post-grad to get my certification in Social Studies. But you learn as you go and most business owners I think do.

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Philly Tutors:

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07/27/2018

“I'm currently wrapping up a Fulbright ETA grant in Athens, Greece. I've spent the last year teaching library research skills and coaching speech and debate. I will be completing my grant by working as a camp counselor at an English language summer camp. Greece is a stunning country and I am so lucky to have had the chance to be immersed in Greek culture. A highlight has been having the chance to truly get to know Athens, a sprawling city that has so much more than just the Acropolis. It's history is complex and deeply intertwined with our own. I woke up one morning and realized that Athens felt like home. The knowledge that I can teach, thrive, and find community abroad has been one of the most empowering aspects of my Fulbright experience. Lafayette Scholarships and Fellowship office helped to fulfill this experience. I urge everyone to get in contact with the office during their time at Lafayette, in order to teach and travel for free.“
([email protected])

04/08/2018

Holi - Festival Of Colors

Humans of Lafayette College

05/27/2020

05/23/2020

05/22/2020

05/21/2020

05/10/2019

12/24/2018

09/16/2018

07/27/2018

04/08/2018

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