Going abroad for college was a priority for Lily Samett (‘15) and the University of Edinburgh won her heart. “The Scottish system is similar to the English system and Edinburgh was my favorite of the schools I visited!” The International Relations with Quantitative Methods major says that she appreciated “the freedom to really decide what types of classes I wanted to take and focus on things I’m passionate about.” After graduating this spring, Samett decided to stay in Edinburgh to work for PwC on its Data and Analytics team.
“TZ offered me the opportunity to try many different things to figure out if I was interested in them,” she reflects. “If you asked me freshman year, I never would’ve said that I would major in anything remotely related to math. However, by taking math every year, I expanded on the knowledge I’d gained in high school and ended up minoring in data/social statistics in college. Additionally, learning about foreign policy in various history classes made me want to focus on studying international relations. I would like to thank Mr. Robertson and Mr. Resnikoff for their impact on my career and making me comfortable enough in my abilities to study something I previously never had in college!”
Having an open mind and the courage to take risks is important, Samett says. “Just give it a go! Even if you’re not sure what you want to do, you still gain valuable experience from trying things out. The worst that can happen is that you learn what you don’t want to do!”
Lily is pictured below at graduation with her dissertation advisor; her final year project focused on the quantitative relationship between forms of human trafficking and levels of freedom.
Our #ProudTZGrad campaign highlights recent Tappan Zee High School alumni who are excelling in an area that is directly connected to their academic and/or school-based extracurricular pursuits at TZHS.
