MORE ABOUT AARA
Graduation Date: June 2009
Hometown: Blaine, Minnesota
High School: Centennial High School
Awards & Achievements:
- Dean’s List
- National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Campus Involvement:
- Catholic Campus Ministry
- DePaul Ambassadors
- Student Leadership Institute
- Orientation Leader 2006
- Chicago Quarter Mentor 2006
- SLI LEAD-In! Mentor 06-07
- Winter Leadership Conference
- Service Immersion
Current Employment:
- University Ministry
- Office of Admission
- America Reads
Aara Johnson
Area of Study:Political Science with minors in Spanish and Economics
I chose my major because… I enjoy learning about politics and government. I was involved with Youth in Government in high school and loved being in the state capitol. It was fun to be a senator or a Supreme Court justice and I wanted to make that my life. I enjoy learning Spanish and desire to be as fluent as I can be in order to communicate with more people. I plan to study abroad in Mexico in the winter of 2008. Economics will help me with a master’s program in public policy in the future.
My favorite thing to do on campus is… go to student organization events. I like to do something that is not work, class or homework. After events, my friends and I sometimes hang out in Brownstones or Outtakes.
I decided to attend DePaul because… I did not want to go to school in Minnesota. Out of my top four schools, DePaul was the only urban campus. I adore Chicago. I love the atmosphere and the fact that the buildings are up-to-date by being built in the 2000s or have smart [technology] capabilities.
The learning environment here at DePaul is… different depending on the class. It is nice to be in a smaller classroom and hear various comments. Sometimes I’m the one who talks all of the time; sometimes I’m the one who’s annoyed with the person who talks all of the time. The classes are becoming harder, but it is good since college shouldn’t be easy.
The class I most enjoyed here was… “Women and American Politics.” The papers were difficult, but the professor challenged us to come in, talk about our work, redo it and learn from it.
When I have free time, I like to… explore the city. I had been to Chicago once before knowing I was going to DePaul. After almost two years spent in the city, I know that this is the place for me. I know restaurants, shows, awesome spots, and have visited almost all of the tourist attractions.
One thing I didn’t know about DePaul before coming was… the fact that this not a traditional college. The feeling is just different from my friends’ schools. The city, the way the residence halls are set up, and the quarter system all add up to a completely different experience from the movies, media and other people’s stories of the college experience.
Here, the diversity of students, faculty and staff… is amazing. By involving myself with various offices at DePaul, I am able to truly see the diversity. Some people don’t recognize it because they do not see what the university has to offer. I do feel I have different friends because I met them in different situations.
The greatest thing about going to school in Chicago is… the opportunity to know the real world. Other schools are on a hill, separated from the rest of the world, so they may not know what life is about. I see homeless people, rich people, tourists, yuppies, college students living in apartments, jobs in the city and anything associated with a city. When I move into an apartment this summer, I will have a slight edge to those who go back home and move back into the residence halls until they graduate. I know to pay rent, heat, laundry, and also understand my neighborhood.
At DePaul, service learning is… very important and something everyone should partake in. I took Spanish 126 where I went to Centro Romero for “Intercambio” every Friday night. After fulfilling 25 hours of service, I not only improved my Spanish greatly, I also learned about Hispanics in the city, as well as immigration issues.
The one DePaul experience I will always remember will be… the Freshmen Escape retreat through Catholic Campus Ministry. This retreat was the door through which I entered my DePaul life. For the first three weeks at DePaul, I tried to be a different person, a person who I did not really want to be. After going on this retreat, I found three of my best friends and an organization for which I am now the president. I did not think that I would even care about my faith in college, but here I am leading an organization and feeling more Catholic than ever.
The best thing about DePaul is… the wide array of places to be. Even though it’s Catholic, you can be greatly involved with many diverse organizations. No one is binding you to a certain group, major or lifestyle. It is up to you to find that place, but it is amazing once you get there. It may be difficult to find that place, but that is why you throw yourself out there and you should stick to something.
What I remember most about my first quarter at DePaul is… the crazy changes. Moving in for Discover Chicago, getting to know my roommate and suite mates, not getting along with my roommate, doing things I should not have done, and finally finding Catholic Campus Ministry and amazing friends.
My greatest success as a student here has been… improving my writing. I never wrote in high school. At most, I wrote a few four-page papers all through those four years. I now write all the time and found ways to be as eloquent, academic or informative as possible. Any class will make you write, and while it may be a drag, it is the best way to communicate with someone where you sound your best.
After graduation, I plan to… go onto graduate school for public policy. I have no idea where yet. I have also started to think about Jesuit Volunteers, where they do service and live in community for a year. I have yet to figure out which will come first.
The one thing I’d like to say to students considering DePaul… like any school, the experience is what you make of it. You may think that you will not find friends here or that you will struggle academically. You may think that you will not find your niche. That will happen anywhere, so there is no point in transferring for those reasons. The happiness and diversity factors at DePaul are so high only because the students choose to experience everything they can. You can sit in your residence hall room all you want and complain that you do not have friends… but maybe you do not have friends because you are sitting in your residence hall room by yourself. Things will not be given to you at DePaul. There are resources that are phenomenal, but it is up to you to integrate them into your own life.
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