Meet Our Students: Christian Okoth

Christian Okoth 

(She, Her, Hers) 

Hometown: Raleigh, NC

Year: Junior, class of ‘21

Major: Double major in English and Statistics, with a minor in Economics

Accomplishments: English Honors, University Honors

What are some of your favorite classes?

Introduction to Editing, Language in Raleigh, and Southern Literature.

What are some of your interests? Do you participate in any activities or student groups?

Power Sound of the South – NC State Marching Band
Poole College of Management Ambassadors
University Ambassadors
Honors and Scholars Village Fellow

Who in the English Department has made the biggest impact on you?

Jon Thompson, he was the first professor I had to truly push me out of my comfort zone in my writing. He was able to really highlight my weaknesses and show me how to continue my development as a writer going forwards. I love a good challenge, and it didn’t hurt that his class (The Imagination of Disaster) was quite interesting.

What are your career goals?

I want to pursue a career in data science. While Economics is my computational major, English has given me the ability to see the deeper questions, ask better questions, an appreciation for methodology, and diverse methods for interpreting the question behind the question. Basically I know how to ask and answer questions far better than the average Economics student.

Why did you decide to pursue a degree in the Humanities and Social Sciences?

I want to save the world, and I think the root of (most) human problems is our inability to communicate. If I can figure out how to help people understand each other better, I think the world will be a nicer (if not better) place to live. I decided to major in people because if you understand and appreciate people, you’ll go further.

So far, what has been your greatest challenge?

My greatest challenge has been trying to figure out how to make all of my curricular and extracurricular goals activities fit together. I haven’t figured out how marching band, economics, and being an ambassador fit together yet. Perhaps my greatest challenge is accepting that they never will! I tend to overextend myself because of all the different things I want to do and it’s hard to choose just a few to specialize in. This is especially true with my studies: I’ve changed my major five times since I arrived on campus (I started out as an English major) but I’ve finally found my people.

What advice would you give to incoming students?

Do what you want to do. If there’s a class or a club that sounds interesting, go experience it. One of the best things about college is figuring out what you like, what you love, and what you never want to do again. The only way to figure that out is to try something new! Don’t limit yourself because you think you have to be one thing or another. The greatest scam of human existence is people telling you that you can’t be more than one thing.