Shoshanna James ’10 adjusted to college by getting involved.  The Brooklyn native who now lives in Newburgh, NY, and graduated from Newburgh Free Academy admits that “In high school I didn’t do anything extracurricular, but here I want to do everything, and that has changed my experience.”

A double performance and communication arts and English major, Shoshanna is president of the Black Student Union, co-founder of the Society of United Laurentians and a coordinator of the Intercultural Floor residential unit. She has also dedicated time acquiring skills in her majors; she spent two months in Sydney, Australia, interning with the company “We’re All About Marketing” and has written for student newspaper The Hill News. “I’ve always liked writing,” Shoshanna says. “I love reading work by good authors and trying to emulate it.”

Shoshanna says her membership in the sorority Kappa Delta Sigma – an organization actively involved in giving back to the Canton community -- gives her a particular sense of pride. “I pledged and had to get along with 16 other girls with all different personalities,” she says. It was challenging compared to other things you just fall into.” Recently, Shoshanna and her KDS sisters held a bike-a-thon to support a local family that, thanks to illness, found themselves homeless. “The money we earn goes to medical bills and anything else they need,” she notes.

Shoshanna says the most important advice she can give to new students is to get involved. “Join something that makes you happy,” she says. “You’ll make friends from lots of different backgrounds and find that we’re all Laurentians, and all united.”