An Aspiring Teacher Being Involved on Campus

Name: Corey William Frate

Age: 21

Hometown: Darien, CT

Major: History Major with a Minor in English and Women Gender Sexuality Studies

"Why did you pick those as your major and minors?"

"So I always enjoyed writing and I enjoyed a lot of the English classes I’ve taken here. Two of my mentors in High School were my History teacher and my English teacher in my Junior year so I always had an interest in both of those subjects. History is kind of my passion, my love, but I appreciate English too. And so, taking a lot of courses in literature here at UConn Stamford, I was on track to getting an English Minor so I figured I might as well pick that up. And certainly with the suggestion of Professors like Fred Roden, I was pushed to taking more of these English courses. And as for my WGSS Minor, it’s something that has always been recommended I look into by my advisor, but also by a lot of my friends who’ve also taken those courses, so I only picked it up last semester, and I’m going into my senior year now, but I had two courses that already qualified for it and I knew I had a couple different credits that I had to take and I wanted to think of what I could fill those with. And so, kind of focusing on that area of study that I really: haven't had the chance to explore a lot, an area of study that expands my understanding of humans and a society we live in, helping me understand things that I haven’t been witnessed to in my life personally, and kind of better understanding people’s struggles, I think that was really important. So it was a lot of encouragement and a lot of curiosity on my end, kind of pushed me to take that as a minor."

"Why did you pick UConn Stamford?"

"Well, I applied to a lot of schools in Connecticut because I knew I kind of wanted to stay in Connecticut, stay relatively local. I wasn’t looking to go down to the south or anything. But UConn was a place that I know, a place some of my mentors have gone. I knew it was a good school, I knew it was kind of gaining a better reputation each year, just the kind of quality of education it provides. I was also really interested in the Education Program they provide within the School of Education, so that was something that really drew me here, kind of knowing very early on in High School that I wanted to teach. What brought me to UConn Stamford is that I applied to Storrs as the main campus and Stamford as the secondary campus. I got into Stamford first. I probably could’ve pushed myself a little harder in High School, but that’s kind of a testament to how competitive UConn is getting. But I was very happy to go to UConn Stamford and I’m actually really grateful I came here first because, first of all, it’s significantly cheaper than a lot of colleges, and so that was something that was very alluring, knowing that I wasn’t going to be at some high, fancy, stock market job where I can payback my student loans 30 times over in the first quarter. And second, it was close to home, it was kind of familiar and I was also close to New York City, because I like going to the city and I like getting to explore Stamford, because it’s somewhere I didn’t go often in High School. And so, with that Education Program that I mentioned, I was going to essentially do two years, focusing on my History studies and then the next three years would be focusing on Education and History. And my plan was starting at UConn Stamford and then I was going to campus change afterwards and go up to Storrs to finish up the rest of my studies. And of course with my History Major, I can finish that up at Stamford and I am, I’m still here at my senior year and that was part because I stayed an extra semester than I planned to, just to get more classes done, more gen-eds, and by then I was going to campus change after that. But then I decided to just finish out my History Degree here because I was looking into alternative Education Programs like the one year certification, which is an accelerated course process, and I just wanted to stay in Stamford because of the connections I was making, because of my involvement on campus. I’m involved in various different organizations on campus, such as: Student Government, the Drama Club called The Outlets, and the History Club which I’m the Secretary of. And I just wanted to better involve myself in the community and just push myself."

"So, I don’t remember seeing your face around campus until my late sophomore/early junior year, so what inspired you to all of a sudden get so involved, like, why do you do it?"

"So something that I told, well I was an orientation leader during the summer and something that I told a lot of those students to push them to get involved, was ‘my first year or so here, I didn’t really push myself. I was coming to school, I was taking classes, studying for a bit and then going home basically. And it wasn’t fulfilling, it wasn’t satisfying’. I was doing fine in my classes and whatnot, but I wasn’t making the kind of connections that I wanted to make. I often would go and get lunch alone, which was cheaper, but also I wasn’t making the kind of friends I have now. I had a lot of contact with a lot of friends from High School of course; they’re in various places across the country, but I was starting to make connections with friends in my classes, one of them being Eddy Morales, who was the President of the Debate Club. He was in a class with me my Freshman year and he was like ‘hey Corey, you’re a nice guy and you like to talk’ and I do, in fact, like to talk, and he recommended me joining Debate Club. And so I joined debate club the semester after and that helped me get involved. It was a community of people who saw each other pretty regularly and then getting involved in clubs, I would see these people around and we would hang out a little more and so I became pretty good friends with them. And it also kind of encouraged me and kept me constantly reminded that in all of these classes, there is the potential of all these great friendships. And so, for the people who put themselves out there, who kind of inspired me or who are brave in taking chances in class, and contributing, but also people who just seem very genuinely nice, I was drawn to those people and I sought out kind of those friendships, one way or another. Whether it was saying ‘hey, lets get lunch after class,’ ‘hey, lets study for this test together,’ or ‘tell me a little more about yourself, what clubs are you in,’ I eventually joined more clubs. Like I said, getting involved in the Drama Club, helping out as a stage hand, starting up a History Club with some of my friends who’re History Majors and even now, starting the UConn Stamford College Democrats or joining in last semester and becoming the VP this semester, it’s just constantly trying to expand the communities. Of course, there are a lot of people who are in all these clubs, so there’s a lot of overlap. But I think the great part of the Stamford Campus is it enables you, if you’re willing, to make these connections because you do see a lot of people around. You’ll see a lot of them in your classes, certainly if you’re in the same school. I know a lot of the History Majors here at school just because I’ve had classes with them. As the Campus grows, it’s really, really great, but it’s still small enough where you get to make these connections with people who you see on campus everyday or they happen to be in the library when you are. And that really, really helps."

"Do you want to stay in Stamford after graduation, or where do you see yourself working?"

"I love Stamford, and I’ve spent the last four years here, but I think I want to go either maybe, and part of it is looking at the Education Programs available, so, if I were to take a program in New York, one of the requisite for those may be teaching at a Public School in New York for a year. I’m also interested in going to Boston, because it’s a beautiful city and I never had the chance to see that much of. It would be a new place, it would be away from home, I think it would be really, really cool. But yeah, part of the beauty of Connecticut is we’re in between Boston and New York. And so, it’s far enough away where you’re doing your own thing, and there’s so much to do, of course, but it’s also close enough where I can come home very easily for Holidays and see my family and my friends when they’re all back. I probably would say I wouldn’t stay in Stamford unless an amazing opportunity presented itself, I probably would go to Boston or New York."

"Last question; it’s kind of like a free question, is there anything you want to tell the people? Do you want them to know something about you or do you want to give them advice?"

"I would say, I do have some advice. For all of the wonderful students who reads this, I really think it’s important to put yourself out there early and to make those connections early because time flies really, really quickly. Saying that, it’s already my last year here and it feels like it has gone by so quickly and that’s because I have enjoyed it so much. But, when you’re making these connections with friends, when you’re getting involved, not only is that, you know, looking good for your resume, looking good for potential opportunities and work, but you really are making your time here better. You’re creating some kind of support group for friends who can always be there to listen for you when you’re going through a tough semester or even just having a bad week. There is always someone to talk to and it also expands your own understandings of the world. You’re talking to people who are coming from different places around Connecticut from you. Coming from Darien, a very sheltered and isolated community, I didn’t know anyone from Bridgeport or New Haven or Bethel. Making friends from different communities and all these different places, its been great. A part of college that’s so important is the diversity of ideas that you come and get exposed to and I feel like that made me a better person. It made me a more critically thinking person. But I also just had so much fun so, the main message is to put yourself out there, be bold, be brave, and of course, take care of yourself and don’t push yourself too far, but you still want that challenge and so I think that’s the really important part of my time here at Stamford."