Welcome Weekend is here. Judging from the posts on the Drake University Class of 2015 Facebook page, the students couldn’t be more excited to get their college experience underway.
With little more than a week to go, soon-to-be first year students exchanged a flurry of posts that shared excitement and asked last minute questions about everything from décor to immunizations to purchasing textbooks.
Social media have provided a convenient communication tool for the more than 800 new Bulldogs who join the pack this fall, contributing to a student body that hails from all 50 states and 50 countries. Many exceptional students continue to come to Drake from the Chicago, Kansas City and the Twin Cities metro areas, but here’s a look at two students who’ll be making an extra-long trip for move-in day:
Dorothy Krebill
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Major: International Relations
Dream Job: Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department
Her background: My mom is Korean and my dad is American, so I grew up in a bicultural home. Korean was my first language, but because I attended an American school at the U.S. Army base in Seoul, my English is a little better than my Korean. My dad works for the Department of Defense, so he’s been deployed to Iraq twice — once when I was in middle school and the second time during my junior year of high school.
What attracted her to Drake: I’ve lived in Seoul basically my whole life, but my dad’s side of the family is from Iowa. In addition to location, I wanted to attend a school small enough to allow me to get to know my professors and a vast majority of my classmates.
Ricardo Fabian Martínez-Isais
Hometown: Guanajuato, Mexico
Major: International Business, International Relations
Dream job: Ambassador of Mexico in the U.S.
His background: I taught myself English and I was an exchange student last year in Davenport, Iowa with a full scholarship. I believe I’m very open-minded and I work hard on everything I do. My biggest accomplishment has been becoming a Bulldog and being able to study in a first-world country.
What attracted him to Drake: I am excited because I will be studying in the United States, one of my favorite countries ever. College in the U.S. will be totally different from college in Mexico. I love making new friends, so meeting people from all over the U.S. is what I’m most excited about. I am planning on putting a lot of effort into all of my classes, and I’m hoping I can do an internship with the United Nations and study abroad as part of my Drake education later on.