Daniella Isabel Apodaca

“When I think about what I most appreciate from my time at the College I’m most grateful for the Core: It has taught me to evaluate both historical and contemporary works and issues through a multitude of perspectives. There is really no greater gift than critical thinking, and I employ it every day, whether in reading a news article or making a seemingly insignificant decision.

“It’s hard to just name one thing. I will always enormously love and appreciate the people at Columbia, including students, professors and all of the others who make our world here spin. I have met some truly remarkable and compassionate people, whom I know will remain with me for the rest of my life, either through friendship or influence.

“I believe that there is a way of looking at our current extraordinary circumstances in a positive light by framing them as a final challenge. Senior year, and each year leading up to it, was filled with them, all of which we learned to overcome and which prepared us for our next test. Doing our work remotely, recreating community while thousands of miles apart, and dealing with the severe personal and global circumstances has become the ultimate test. I believe the pandemic’s repercussions, and the holes in our global and domestic systems that it has uncovered, will continue to be the Class of 2020’s challenge, and one that we will work tirelessly toward solving.”