FAVORITE COURSES
I enjoyed my accounting and personal finance courses in high school, so I knew I'd enjoy taking business courses at Sacred Heart. Surprisingly, though, my favorite courses so far have been World Religions and Communications. I like reading about different cultures around the world, and the communications class has helped me refine how I use words. It's an art form to speak and write well, and in business they look for people who can successfully convey their ideas to others.
PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
I'm proud just to be at Sacred Heart. This is a really great private school, and I'm please not only to have gotten in, but to have gotten a scholarship. Without that financial help, I never could have come here. I'm also honored to be able to give back to my community through Habitat for Humanity and working with the Rise Program, where you have a buddy with special needs. My middle sister has special needs, and my town has done so much for her that I wanted a chance to give something back.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
The biggest surprise for me at Sacred Heart was just how nice all of the kids are. It's really easy to make friends here. I was afraid that I'd find a lot of stuck-up, entitled kids at a private university, but it's really a homey community. Everyone is involved in a lot of activities and we're all very accepting of one another.
WHAT'S NEXT
I'm planning to do internships in business so that I can figure out what I want to do with my life, because right now I haven't a clue. I also intend to keep volunteering as much as I can. I'd really like to go to Guatemala, where my father lives, because his church wants to start a fund there to help kids who are in need. My goal after I graduate is to do something in a field where I can help people.
Monica Gereda is a Discovery Scholar. The Discovery Scholars Program is a tuition-free plan for first-year, full-time undergraduate students from Fairfield County, who have demonstrated annual family income at or below $50,000.