Dear Reader,
Continuing on the theme of “Being Your Authentic Self,” I’m sharing another question that a student asked me at my alma mater the University of Pennsylvania during our discussion about Destined in February 2025 and my response to it.
Euquil, Penn student moderator: What lessons did you learn from your experiences and what advice would you give to students on how best to transition [to Penn]?
Me: I think one way to navigate transition is to fight to remain who you are as an individual. I never hid any part of myself. I remember when I was applying to come here, for example, they asked, "Do you have X person to help you financially, a parent, a family member?" I said, “No, I have no X person anywhere to help me financially to attend this institution. I would attend this institution if I have financial help to do that. If not, I’m not going to attend this institution.” It was really clear to me because that’s who I came here as.
For any student here, we all come with something on campus that we might feel we have to put our heads down and for whatever reason think that if we share that, we’re not good enough. Who you are and Penn selected you to come here, you’re good enough. You don’t need to be anyone else. If Penn doesn’t want you here, they would not send you an acceptance letter. So once you get here, show up as who you are. What you’ll quickly discover is that you’ll find people who are interested in who you are as you are. And that’s what you want as a human being period and as a student.
As a student, figure out how you want to show up in the world. Do you want to show up in the world pretending to be someone you’re not? Or do you want to show up in the world as you know yourself to be? And hope that’s going to be enough for whomever you’re dealing with.
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Do you know a community college or university student who would benefit from receiving my monthly newsletter with tips on learning, reading, writing, or resilience?
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Be open minded to asking for help because that is extremely important. Yes, we’re all intelligent that’s how we got here. But at the same time, we’re all human. That means we don’t have it all together; there are many pieces that are missing all the time.
On [this] campus, I’ve learned, just about any question you have, someone has the answer. Now the question becomes, as a student, are you willing to approach people with those questions? And say I’m trying to figure out XYZ, can you help me, or at least can you point me in the right direction? Someone will do that for you. People cannot read your mind; you have to talk to them. You’ll be amazed by where asking for help can take you.
What is one question you have related to your education? And who do you plan to ask for help?
I would love your review of Destined on Amazon. Your review can focus on answering the following question: Can you share how you were impacted by Destined?
Thank you for reading. Wishing you all the best.
Keep going!
Aminata Sy
Author of Destined: A Story of Resilience and Beating the Odds
