For freshman psychology major Andrea Saavedra Ferreira, attending Northern Kentucky University is an opportunity to live life to the fullest. Though she says that she tended to be risk-avoidant and reserved during high school, Saavedra Ferreira has seized every opportunity to learn, get involved and serve others over the course of her first year in college.
Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where she lived for 11 years until her family moved to the U.S., Saavedra Ferreira’s family relocated to Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky after she completed middle school. At Beechwood High School, she participated in theater and was inspired by her guidance counselor to pursue psychology.
“By getting my degree, I can be an inspiration for young Latina women who pursue excellence in higher education and represent my community in the field of psychology."
“She helped me a lot during the pandemic and with college applications during my senior year,” she says. “After graduation, I want to get my master’s in counseling and become a high school counselor. By getting my degree, I can be an inspiration for young Latina women who pursue excellence in higher education and represent my community in the field of psychology.”
Saavedra Ferreira chose to attend NKU due to its proximity to home, but also received multiple scholarships that allowed her to live on campus. The welcoming community and supportive faculty she got to know during her freshman year have already had a major impact on her.
She particularly enjoyed taking Dr. Kathleen Fuegen’s “Social Psychology” course, which she says has made her consider the many different ways in which people think.
“Also, my classmates and I really bonded,” she adds. “I am still in contact with them to this day!”
Saavedra Ferreira’s favorite NKU memory was attending the 2023 Victor’s Vision retreat, organized by the Center for Student Engagement’s Northern Kentucky Leadership Institute. The overnight event provided a much-needed reprieve from finals stress, along with some lasting memories.
“We stayed up until late, took a bunch of photos and ran around the camp for a scavenger hunt. It was so fun,” she says “Also, my camp group, Team Purple, won the dancing competition by performing ‘Squirrels In My Pants’ from ‘Phineas and Ferb.’ It’s something I will never forget.”
She is involved in a number of campus-wide organizations, from the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority to the Leadership Mentors and the Latino Avanzando Mentorship Program: a first-year experience to help Latinx freshmen transition from high school to college. She’s also a member of her major’s psychology club and the Northern Chorale, one of NKU’s four choirs.
In addition to getting involved, Saavedra Ferreira’s advice to incoming freshmen is to learn more about time management before their first day of classes.
“During my first year, I worked a part-time job on campus, joined a sorority and was part of clubs while being a full-time student. The only way I knew what time I had to do things was through my calendar app, where I put every single class, meeting and event. If I didn’t have my calendar going off every hour of the day telling what I had up next, I would have missed a lot of deadlines and classes.”
She also suggests joining the Norse University summer program, which she says helped ease her transition into college.
“It’s a summer orientation for incoming freshmen, and it’s where I met my roommate, as well as many of my current friends in college. It is a free head start on your freshman year!”
