By: Karolina Dombaxi, Features Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy: Karolina Dombaxi, The BonaVenture
“Teaching is something I never thought I’d do, but with this opportunity I have enjoyed making the college process easier for incoming freshmen,” Priscilla Contreras, a graduate assistant in the Student Success Center at St. Bonaventure University said.
Contreras grew up in the Bronx. She enrolled at Bonaventure as a freshman in 2017, double majoring in journalism and English. After graduating in 2021, she decided to stay at Bonaventure to continue her education by working towards her master’s in business administration.
As a graduate student, Contreras spends a lot of her time studying for her own classes, but also teaching courses and working in the student success center. During the week her office door is open for students to come in and talk with her.
Contreras found the adjustment from being an undergraduate student to a graduate student a little difficult. Instead of having classes every day she only had classes once a week. These were three hours long. Not being a business major, Contreras was unfamiliar with the material during her first semester.
“I felt like a deer in headlights,” Contreras said.
Her second semester in the masters program, she felt much more confident going into her classes. She admitted that sometimes she wishes she was still an undergraduate student.
She was a part of Latin American Student Organization and she used to take pictures for The Bona Venture, Bonaventure’s student-run newspaper.
Now as a graduate student, she finds it hard to keep up with night classes and clubs, but she is a part of the C4 Consulting club and a member of Her Campus.
In her free time, Contreras loves to spend time with her cat Selena, hang out with her roommates and read books. She is very passionate about writing and reading. Conteras has always loved to write and enjoys writing for blogs and journaling.
“Bonaventure has had a great impact on what I am passionate about. As a journalism student, I was able to learn from remarkable professors who have prepared me for the working field, and I know I can always count on whether it is to talk about life or share with me a job opportunity. As an English major, I had a perfect excuse to read more books, and the more books I read, the stronger of a writer I felt I was becoming,” she said.
Contreras’s goals post-graduation involve trying to work as a copyeditor for a unique company. Some advice that she would give to her younger self would be to step out of her comfort zone and do things that excite her and that she is passionate about.
