Video Transcript
[Music]
[GRAPHIC: WHAT I WISH I WOULDVE KNOWN]
[Crystal Centeno, Digital Innovation and Design Major]: My name is Crystal Centeno and I’m a digital Innovation and Design major at Boise State University, graduating in the class of 2024. Digital Innovation and Design is a very unique and new major. I believe I will be the third graduating class for it, but it has a very great focus on user interfaces and solutions. So if you have a passion for design and making products, or places that help people, it’s definitely a major for you.
[Crystal]: The extra curriculars I was involved in at Boise State were primarily academics. I was on Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, as well as the Dean’s List Club, and that was just really fun to be a part of and strive for — and it really connected me as well to like minded people who are interested in, you know, becoming the best of the university has to offer, academically. So during my time at Boise State, a struggle that I think I really initially kind of had to become accustomed to was just being in person on a campus. I have a home schooled background, so it was really my first time experiencing that, and it was very thrilling to be a part of, but nerve wracking at the same time. I just have to say that you get stronger with each moment, and over time it became very much a second home.
[Crystal]: There were so many options of places to go, people to meet, things to do, and just really having that supportive community really helped me. You know, through internships I’ve had and things like that, I’ve seen that knowing how to work on a team and be in a community is pretty much essential to getting the job done. And I just think it’s a great skill, Boise State really kind of primes us of how to be not just a part of a community, but a contributing person to it. And I just really appreciate that. I feel just so much more confident to go to job interviews, to network with people, to work in big companies, to bring my ideas to the table of places I previously didn’t feel like comfortable enough to do that and I would really just say that’s kind of what’s helped me overcome it, is that confidence that I gained.
[Crystal]: You know, when you join Boise State, you’re paying tuition for this really grand campus with so much opportunity and things to do, and just taking advantage of those, maybe ones that you didn’t even know you liked. I had a friend who became on the radio, for Boise State, and she had so much fun doing that, and we had so much fun tuning in and listening to her. Before Boise State, I never bowled very much and I took very much advantage of the bowling alleys here. Just staying open minded to new opportunities, or events, or groups. I wasn’t even really a fitness person before I joined charge, but now I definitely am — and even the gym here has made me more physical in my daily life, just because of the beautiful facility that it kind of offers us, and so many options there.
[Crystal]: And I also really would say in telling my freshman self is just not to compare yourself to others, especially because I kind of had a different journey joining the school. When I first came here, I really thought I had to be like everyone else and as my time progressed, I saw what really makes us beautiful and unique, is our differences and that the past, that will all go on, and that’s really what helps make Boise State a diverse community, is that we’re not all following the same passions, and we’re not all going after the same jobs. And just being open minded to that. You’re stronger than you know, and you’re smarter than you think.