Hometown: Toronto, Canada

Major/Minor: Political Science and Art History (Joint)

Email: Qzhang@middlebury.edu

On-campus Activities: SGA (Student Government Association), Academic Judicial Board, Language Tables, Political Science Research Assistant

Commons: Ross

Why did you choose Middlebury?

I chose Middlebury because I was looking for an intimate community environment where I could be more than just a number. In Canada, almost all of our universities are large public institutions, much like state schools, and I had heard of friends taking classes with 1800 other students! So I knew I wanted to go to a place where I could have the luxury of small classes, professors who are there to teach, and where I could get to know my peers and other members of the campus community. Nothing about Middlebury in particular jumped out at me, except for the fact that it was one of several school that had all the characteristics I had been looking for. I didn’t want to go too far from home and limited my list to schools in the northeastern United States. In the end, I didn’t have a tough time choosing between Middlebury and another school because it was the one place where all the stars aligned in terms of admission and financial aid, the latter of which was important for my family.

Did you study abroad?  Or are you planning to go abroad?

I just finished my abroad semester in Madrid, Spain. I began studying Spanish at Middlebury, which gave me many options for studying abroad. In Spain alone, Middlebury runs four different study abroad sites, in addition to our dozen or so schools abroad in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. It was a tough choice to pick between the sites, but I eventually chose Madrid because I had never been to Europe before and saw this as an opportunity to travel on the continent. And as an art history major, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to see all those amazing works of art in Europe that I had studied in class!

Favorite study spot on campus?

I usually study in my room as that is where I am most comfortable and focused. But I do also have several favourite study spots on campus! If I am writing a paper and am in need of many academic resources, I like to perch myself on the second floor of the library on the large open tables just when you go up the main set of stairs to the right of the front entrance. From there, you get lots of natural light flooding through the ginormous windows facing Old Stone Row but you won’t be tempted to take a nap like you would be if you sank into one of those comfy couches facing those windows. If I need a good place to do my readings in peace, I like to go to the LaForce Library on the ground floor of LaForce, to the left of Ross dining hall from the main entrance.

Favorite class or professor at Middlebury (or both)?

My favourite professor at Middlebury is Keegan Callanan of the political science department. He was just hired to a tenure-track position last year for political philosophy and I will be taking my third class with him in the fall. My first class with Professor Callanan was Intro to Political Philosophy, a requirement of my major that I was not really looking forward to. However, Professor Callanan made the material so much more interesting than at first glance and really inspired me to delve deep into our readings and reflect on them critically. He has an extraordinary ability to explain tough concepts and dense readings in an accessible way and is always able to generate interesting discussions regardless of the material and the students in his class. For each of his classes every semester, Professor Callanan also hosts a class dinner where we are able to get to know him and our peers outside the classroom. In many ways, Professor Callanan embodies the values of liberal arts learning.

Your biggest challenge adjusting to Middlebury?

One big challenge I had adjusting to Middlebury is the amount of time I had to spend individually doing readings outside class time. Coming from a very math and science focused high school, I was simply not used to the routine of sitting down for two or three hours each evening by myself carefully reading dozens of pages of text. I had to learn techniques to read more efficiently and more effectively and the CTLR (Center for Teaching, Learning and Research) was a good resource for that. More trivially, having grown up in a traditional Chinese household, I was not used to the food in our dining halls and missed mom’s cooking very much!

Best Proctor Dining Hall creation?

I can make a pretty mean stir fry when they have the stir fry stations open. This usually consists of fried rice with eggs and ham (from the deli station) and an assortment of vegetables from the salad bar. Sometimes, I crave for spicy food and put a dash of Sriracha in the fried rice.

Advice for a prospective student?

My advice for a prospective student would be to start your college applications early! Starting thinking and drafting those essays during the summer! You will be relieved that you did come senior fall, which was by far the most stressful time of high school for me. I think I underestimated how time consuming the college application process would be and left a lot of things until the very last minute. Luckily, things turned out fine in the end, but don’t count on that as a guarantee. I really wish I had taken my essays and recommendation letters more seriously earlier in the semester to avoid all the stress come December.