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Ian Perkins-Smith Interview
No full textIan Perkins-Smith (Class of 2021) was interviewed by Laura Narvaez in the Norwick Center for Digital Solutions on March 7, 2024. Mx. Perkins-Smith grew up in Richardson, Texas, and decided at a young age that he wanted to become a mechanical engineer. He decided to attend SMU due to the generous financial aid package they offered him. While at SMU, he served as an African American senator in the Student Senate, played the saxophone in the Mustang Band, where he served as drum major from 2019-2020, and joined the Christian fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi. He discussed people calling the police on him when he was out on campus studying in the evening. He received Bachelor's degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from SMU in 2021. He has held jobs as an analyst and an industrial engineer, and moved across the country several times since graduation. At time of recording, Mx. Perkins-Smith had recently moved back to Dallas, where he is pursuing an MBA with hopes of becoming an intellectual property lawyer
Briana Smith Interview
No full textBriana Smith (Class of 2021) was interviewed by Laura Narvaez via the Zoom internet-based conferencing software on May 4, 2024. Ms. Smith spoke about her experience as part of a large Black middle-class family living in predominantly white areas and moving multiple times throughout her childhood. She'd dreamed about attending SMU since she was 15 years old, later joining the Cox School of Business for her BBA, the Meadows School of the Arts for a B.A in Corporate Communication and Public Affairs with a concentration in Social Innovation and Nonprofit Engagement, and the Dedman College for two minors in Women and Gender Studies and in Human Rights. She spoke about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the Black Lives Matter movement on campus, and on her overall undergraduate experience. After graduating, Ms. Smith lived in Spain to work in the field of communication for the Spanish government. She has since returned to the United States to work for a tech company and is planning on applying for a job in business communication abroad. She remembers her time at SMU with appreciation for helping her develop confidence and create an extensive professional network
Mauricio Galvan Interview
No full textMauricio Galvan (Class of 2024) was interviewed by Michelle Ma via the Zoom internet-based conferencing software on June 15, 2024. Mr. Galvan discussed his upbringing in a Mexican American family and the importance of religion and family in his life. He chose SMU for its connections to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and potential networking opportunities. He double majored in Statistical Science and Economics and minored in Business, and is considering going back to SMU for an MBA. Mr. Galvan also spoke about his ambition to move to the west coast and work for a tech company with the goal of being involved in the next big technological paradigm shift
Atrion Sorrells Interview
No full textAtrion Sorrells (Class of 2024) was interviewed by Michelle Ma via the Zoom internet-based conferencing software on June 22nd, 2024. Mr. Sorrells spoke about his experience as a Black student at SMU, where he pursued a degree in Film and a minor in Business. While attending SMU, Mr. Sorrells became involved with organizations such as ABS, and continued to work for his own production company, A'Style Productions. Since graduating, Mr. Sorrells has been working on a series of short films and is planning on going back to school to get an MBA in the future. He remembers his time at SMU fondly and appreciates the learning and networking opportunities he had access to while attending
Fernando Berwig Silva Interview
No full textFernando Berwig Silva (Class of 2023) was interviewed by Jenna Young in the Norwick Center for Digital Solutions in Fondren Library on November 1, 2024. Mr. Berwig Silva was raised in downtown Curitiba, Brazil, with his older sister. He was raised in a non-religious household but converted to Christianity and was a drummer in a Christian band as a teenager. He described how music was a bonding force for his family growing up, both for him in a religious context, and for his parents via the Brazilian political movements of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. He learned about SMU through Dr. Marcell Silva Steuernagel, who held the same position at the same church as Mr. Berwig Silva in Brazil before he was hired as director of the Masters of Sacred Music program at the Perkins School of Theology. Mr. Berwig Silva described the range of culture shock awaiting him when he arrived on campus, including differing cultural attitudes, language barriers, and the prevalence of white Greek Life culture on campus. He credits Dr. Silva Steuernagel and Tracy Anne Allred, Assistant Dean of Students, Alums, and Community Engagement, with helping him get his feet under him by, among other things, housing him while he found a place to live and pointing him towards campus resources that are not as well known unless one has insider knowledge. While he found his cohort, and Perkins generally, to be welcoming, he described SMU as an institution as ''impersonal.'' He attributed part of this to SMU's status as a private university, as opposed to a state university, as is the norm for quality institutions in Brazil. Mr. Berwig Silva also discussed the jarring difference in race relations: despite considering himself white in Brazil and not identifying as Latino initially, the American emphasis on racial diversity over cultural diversity led him to take on Latino as an identity and seek out other Latiné students. He described the food insecurity and trouble finding housing that international students can face and suggested that greater financial support, on-campus housing, and support of the International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) office could help that student population. He also pointed out that emphasizing diversity doesn't mean much if you don't have a diverse student body, and that grants and other financial aid may help bring in more Latiné students. At time of recording, Mr. Berwig Silva is continuing his education at SMU, seeking a PhD in Religious Studies in pursuit of a career as a professor
Jordan Thomas Interview
No full textJordan Thomas (Class of 2023) was interviewed by Laura Narvaez via the Zoom internet-based conferencing software on July 16, 2024. Mr. Thomas received a Bachelors of Science in both Economics and Political Science. Mr. Thomas spent his early childhood in Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Westchester County in New York with his mother and sister. He then returned to Atlanta for his high school years, living in the southeast part of the city. He grew up and interacted with a diverse community. Originally intending to go to law school, Mr. Thomas had his sights set on University of Virginia. After being rejected, he chose SMU, which was at the top of his list of alternate schools. During his time at SMU, Mr. Thomas became a Rotunda Scholar, a mentorship program in which experienced students provided guidance and support. He took part in the philosophy club and energy club, as well as serving on the board of the Boulevard Bulletin, a satirical student newspaper. An avid sports fan, many of Mr. Thomas’ fondest memories of SMU revolved around football games. As of this recording, Mr. Thomas lives and works in Boston, where he feels at home to support the Boston sports teams he learned to love from his father
Paola Sotomayor Interview
No full textPaola Sotomayor (Class of 2013) was interviewed by Jenna Young in the Norwick Center for Digital Solutions on October 14, 2024. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with a minor in International Studies. Ms. Sotomayor was born in an impoverished neighborhood in Lima, Peru, where both of her parents worked at a local market until her father got a job as a security guard at a nearby hotel, while her mother continued to vend. When she was 14, she and her mother immigrated to the United States, following behind her father and older sister. She became so overwhelmed on her first day of high school, shortly after arriving in the US, that she attempted to leave before her sister convinced her to go back and try again. Slowly, she found her core friend group, who shared a similar background and were also struggling to figure out where and if they belonged. She described the pressure she received to assimilate to white US culture, both implicitly from a desire to fit in and explicitly from school staff, which she didn't think had impacted her until many years later, when she began to teach. She also described the limited options she and her fellow undocumented classmates had available to them after high school. Her sister had been able to enroll in Richland College, however, so she attended there as well after graduation. Her sister’s example, alongside an opportunity to return to Peru and get her documents in order in her late teens, allowed Ms. Sotomayor to apply for jobs and enroll in universities. She learned about SMU from her sister and obtained a position at Student Financial Services, which allowed her to transfer from Richland College to SMU. She decided to major in Spanish after attending one of Dr. Olga Colbert’s classes and realizing that she knew less about Hispanic literature than she thought she did. This sparked a desire to reconnect with the culture she’d attempted to separate herself from in high school, and to share it with her young daughter. She also discussed how her mentors and family supported her and helped her push through when she became discouraged and was tempted to drop out. She had intended to get a Master’s of Special Education after obtaining her undergraduate degree, but was unable to stop working for long enough to gain the classroom experience required for the program. Someone she was supervising at work pointed her towards Dallas ISD’s teacher certification program and, through this, she became a bilingual certified teacher and an ESL certified teacher. Ms. Sotomayor expressed the importance of maintaining and continuing to improve the programs and initiatives that give Latiné students a voice on campus, describing the noticeable, positive difference between her nephew’s experience and her own. At time of recording, Ms. Sotomayor primarily teaches underserved students and coaches bilingual educators. She strives to be a mentor for her students, and plans to eventually get her master’s degree from SMU
Amy Wong Interview
No full textAmy Wong (MBA 2023) was interviewed by Laura Narvaez via the Zoom internet-based conferencing software on January 12, 2024. Ms. Wong was born in Garland, Texas, in 1985 and is the only child of a mother from Malaysia and father from Thailand. She attended the University of Texas for her undergraduate years and later found her way to SMU after researching MBA programs. Ms. Wong found SMU to be a very welcoming place and recalled that Professors David Jacobson, Eric Mars, and Andrew Glenn were especially helpful to her as she went through the MBA program. Ms. Wong described splitting her time between the program and her full time job as an educator and thinks back on her time at SMU as a favorable one that helped her cultivate relationships and networking opportunities that allowed her to make the career changes she wanted