Today, we gain wisdom from a Rhodes Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa inductee.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Gloria Charite, Columbia College, Psychology, Kigali-Rwanda 

Claim to fame: First Female Rhodes Scholar from Rwanda, Phi Beta Kappa member elect, selfie with H.E Paul Kagame, Valedictorian of Gashora Girls Academy Class of 2018, and above all being my Dad and Mom’s daughter 

Where are you going? On my way to a long but exciting journey of deciphering the functioning of the memory system and using this knowledge to improve the ways we teach and learn. 

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2027?

Academic excellence and a vibrant social life are equally important: When talking about this, I am always cautious lest I echo what can be a very misleading statement: “grades do not matter.”  Grades do matter, at least they did in my experience. So yes study, study, and study. However, I cannot emphasize enough how making time to hangout with friends, checking out the city, being involved in various student organizations, and sometimes binge watching K-dramas equally brightened my Columbia journey. I always took Saturdays off to recharge, and evidently my college career was not short of success. School and life should NOT be mutually exclusive. 

Columbia is a sea of resources, especially the people: Columbians, be it fellow students, professors, staff, and alumni, are such an invaluable resource. There is not one achievement wherein I cannot attribute a certain amount of my success to the support and mentorship from the people in my network. So please do take time to form these lifelong professional and social relationships. 

Being open-minded to learn some life-changing, revealing, and sometimes shocking truths about oneself and how the world operates. Having a Beginner’s mind, it is!  It was not until I got to Columbia, for example, that I learned I was Black. 

“Back in my day…”  Intro to Bio was taught by Mowsh and the Columbia Business School was still in Uris Hall

Favorite Columbia controversy? John Jay vs Ferris :)

What was your favorite class at Columbia? I have many favorites as I enjoyed all my psychology classes. Kudos to the psychology department. I will instead share the class I found the most enlightening, “Theories of Culture” by Dr. Debashree Mukherjee. It completely changed the way I see the world. 

Whom would you like to thank?

So many people! It indeed takes a village to raise someone or should I say a city to raise a Columbia student. I am eternally grateful to everyone who made my Columbia experience enjoyable. If I had to write everyone’s name here there might not be enough space for the Bwog for the next how many years (haha). But here are a few: 

My family, Kathia Masimbi, Carine Mushimiyimana, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Wadzanayi Mayiseni and all the Executive Chillers, Nakeisha Jones, Ngalula Fleurant, Biftu Regaa, Columbia ACF (current and former members), Dr. Chris Baldassano, Dr. Lila Davachi, Dr. Mariam Aly, Dr. Nim Tottenham, John Thorp, Dr. Modupe Akinola, Mike White, Rwanda GIP 2023 Class, Dr. Harry Verhoeven, Dr. Khaled Hamdy and the CUBS Team, Menlee Mansue and the Columbia Housing Team, Dean Alex España, CUSP, Dean Ariella Lang and the URF Team, the Advent Hope church family, all my other friends, graduate student mentors, faculty, and staff for their unwavering support. 

One thing to do before graduating: Me? Perhaps confessing to my crush (haha), maybe a terrible idea! On a more serious note, to the best extent possible, I would recommend doing a study abroad program before graduating.  There is something about being in a different country and/or culture that fosters personal and intellectual growth as well as a deeper appreciation of the complexity of humankind. 

Any regrets? If time spanned back I would most likely redo what I did, maybe stress less about getting the first, and hopefully last, C in my academic career (that was in Intro to Bio). 

Gloria via Gloria Charite