College can be both exciting and stressful as you decide what you want to do for the rest of your life, and first-year Marie Deily knows that feeling well. When she started the semester here at Elizabethtown College, she was a biology major with a concentration in pre-vet but over time discovered it just wasn’t for her.
Many college students end up changing their major, which can be scary, but as Deily knows, it can be incredibly rewarding to find out what suits you and what will continue to fascinate and excite you as you continue your schooling and career journey. Deily decided that next semester she would be going forward as a psychology major.
“I chose to switch to psychology because I can go on to be a therapist or psychiatrist and help people. Psychology has always fascinated me,” Deily said.
Deily is looking forward to the opportunity to change people’s lives and having the ability to make a difference, especially in the field of clinical psychology. She still isn’t quite sure what she wants to do, but she is determined to work hard to get her bachelor’s degree and work forward from there.
So far, Deily has been enjoying her time at Etown and has especially enjoyed taking her first English course with Dr. Charity Fox. Deily enjoys how Fox makes sure everyone in her class is comfortable with the workload and is finding it easy to adjust to the college atmosphere.
“She checks in with us to make sure we aren’t drowning with work, and completely understands that we have lives outside of the classroom and we aren’t in control of everything. She’s a really good teacher,” Deily said.
Deily also really enjoyed the ropes course she completed with The Momentum Program at the beginning of the semester. The Momentum Program helps first-generation college students learn about the college experience and offers a support system as they navigate the first two years of their college education. The program helps students achieve their academic and professional goals, prepare for their futures and helps them to create a community of peers, faculty, staff and alumni. Deily discussed how the program helped her learn how to manage her time and feel comfortable asking for help when she needs it.
“At first, I wasn’t too sure what to think about it but as the semester went on I realized how much it helped. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know or understand about college,” Deily said.
Deily has enjoyed her time at Etown so far and originally chose the college because it was far enough away from her home in Delaware but close enough to the family she has in Pennsylvania. She grew up near the University of Delaware, so she knew she didn’t want a big school, and when she toured Etown, she was happy that the campus was more on the smaller side.
Outside of her academic life, Deily enjoys playing in her local rugby club back in Delaware, where she either plays as a tighthead prop or a full back, depending on what the team needs, but she prefers to play tighthead.
Back at home, Deily has two interesting pets: Dane the black lab and Millie the cat. For the most part, the two get along, but Dane doesn’t quite seem to understand their size difference.
“He doesn’t realize he’s a lot bigger than her and she scares him. She will run and hide behind furniture to jump out at him. If she is sitting at the stairs, he will sit at the bottom and cry until someone moves the cat so he can go up the stairs,” Deily said.
Perhaps it’s Millie’s excessive number of toes that scares him! Deily discussed how instead of the typical 18 toes that cats have, Millie has 24 total toes, making her a polydactyl! Either way, Dane and Millie are an entertaining pair that makes Deily laugh.
