Caroline Studer '21
Magna Cum Laude
Applied Mathematics and Statistics, French Language and Literature double major 

Favorite class:
My favorite class at Stony Brook was LIN 200 (a linguistics course I took for an SBC). It changed the way I view people and the way they communicate with one another and it was very eye-opening for me.

Favorite French class:
My favorite French class was HUF 211 (French cinema). I loved getting an exposure to French movies, which is something I hadn’t had much of before. It was especially nice because the movies we watched were from not only France but also Canada, Belgium, and several different countries in Africa. I got to hear a lot of different French accents, which is beneficial because not everyone who speaks French has the typical French accent. I also met two of my best friends in this class and I am so thankful for them.

How will you use your French language skills?
I would like to work for a company that does business in France and the U.S. I love traveling so going back and forth between these two countries for work would be a good way for me to maintain my French.

Favorite memory:
I don’t have a specific memory but just being on campus and having the simple little things like walking to classes and meeting friends at the dining hall is what I think of most fondly. Football and soccer games during the fall and events like Earthstock in the spring were a lot of fun. I also loved seeing the trees changing every fall and seeing the cherry blossoms in the spring.

Interests and accomplishments:
I care a lot about the environment so I like to thrift and upcycle clothing (something I became interested in during the first lockdown last spring). I also enjoy playing tennis, badminton, and soccer and I really love baking (especially chocolate chip cookies).

Greatest accomplishment:
I would say that my greatest accomplishment would be graduating Magna Cum Laude in three years and getting into an advanced graduate program during the pandemic.

Plans for post-graduation:
After graduation, I will be spending time with my family. We are currently in Germany due to the military, and because of Covid lockdown regulations, we haven’t been able to do much. We also have family in France that we are planning on visiting. I will take some online classes as well as I will be a full time graduate student in the MBA in Finance Program at Stony Brook starting this summer.

Advice for future Seawolves?
My advice for future Seawolves is to take advantage of all the resources and opportunities available. Course registration is the first stressful experience of college and I didn’t know about resources such as degreeworks and classie-evals to help me determine which classes I wanted to take. There are all kinds of resources available to make the transition easier so I would recommend reaching out to people that you know who have attended Stony Brook or even consulting the reddit page r/SBU, which can be a great starting point to find the answers you need.

Parting thoughts:
I have had an incredible time at Stony Brook and I have met so many wonderful people and learned so much. I can’t wait to get another year here especially now that life is getting back to normal. It is easy to take things like picnics at Tabler and football games for granted but this past year has shown me how important the little things are.