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Hi, my name is Sophia Milla and I'm an alumni. Graduated in 2010. Walked in 2010, finished in 09. Um, my story is about what student organizations I was part of.

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Um, I have so many great memories, but one of the ones that I want to share is that I joined the bhangra team, which is a dance from, uh, Southeast Asia in India. And I did not know how to dance

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bhangra, but I had a roommate, Elena Atkinson, who was part of the team, and she recruited me and she got me to participate, and we would do performances, and then we would travel to like, Buffalo and entering competitions there.

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And we actually, I think we still have a YouTube video somewhere and we actually placed third. And so I think what I took away from that experience was just being able to join groups, just join groups on campus.

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I was part of LASO, the Latin American student organization, and I became part of that cultural experience that that formed me. Um, I met friends and built my network that way. And so I think it's really special for you to, uh, you know, as, as

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current students and as alumni. Something to take away is just to accept all cultures, accept all opportunities, and just really embrace differences and build from that.

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I think that's really shaped who I am today. Um, and also to, uh, just thinking about what other, um, defining moments I had in American University is just always being part of the engagement.

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So something we always did was MLK day. We would always go read books, um, to different libraries in DC and like different classrooms and just

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giving back. I think one thing that is self fulfilling and something that's very, um, character building and just really prevalent is just giving back.

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I think that's the spirit of AU. I talk about this all the time. Service engagement is always very helpful as well as volunteering. And I do a lot of, uh, work in the nonprofit world with Saint Jude

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Children's Research Hospital based out of Memphis, Tennessee. I give my my time, my free time to helping children so that they don't die in the dawn of their lives. And so that's really special to me.

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And I think that that's something that was cultivated here at this university. And I'm very grateful for that, because it does help me, uh, be very brave and, courage, you know,

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have a lot of courage to do things that I never thought I could do. And now I'm using that as an opportunity at Deloitte, where I work now at my firm, my consulting firm. And so what we do now is I try to embrace all my worlds together.

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So, you know, being part of working at a working at Deloitte and then bringing a you into the mix, bringing, you know, my philanthropy, bringing Saint Jude into the mix and just building from those, those, uh, networks.

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And it's about storytelling, right. That's what who we are as humans, we storytell that's how we build and our reputation.

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That's how we leave our legacy, and that's part of history. So I encourage everyone out there to to just try new things, get involved, find your passion, follow your heart, and just really be brave and be courageous and get out there and really just explore

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the different opportunities that the world has to offer and just really give back. I think paying it forward is something that I've always learned about and just, you know, helping

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other people and that will help you be a better person and be a better servant to society and to community. And that's what will build a better world. So thank you so much for letting me share.