1. What activities were you involved in after High School?
After high school, I did two years at Salt Lake Community College . It was a cheaper alternative at the university and gave me a chance to grow up a bit. I did a political science degree there. Some activities I did was work as a writing and math tutor, volunteer in the student government and the student lobbyist, and lead a voter registration team for the 2012 elections. After that, I did three years at the The University of Utah and got a Master’s degree in economics and math. I wanted to go to grad school so I scaled my activities down and focused on school. I published a few papers in some journals in the university (which can be found online with some googling) and worked as a research assistant for a professor there my last year. The paper we worked on is currently being reviewed for publication in a professional journal. During this time, I applied for Ph.D. programs in economics, I actually applied once in 2014 and got rejected everywhere! So sad! I decided to stay for a 5th year at Utah and keep working; I applied again the next year and got 12 offers! Good times. I accepted the University of Michigan‘s offer and that is where I am right now, in Ann Arbor and working through the first year core material It’s hard, but it is rewarding stuff.
2. What did you like most about PHS?
My favorite thing about PHS was the freedom I had to be myself and learn about myself. I grew so much over those years, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do that in a public school in Kosovo.
3. How did PHS prepare you for this bright academic career?
I was not a great student at PHS, I focused a lot on basketball in high school and kind of put all my eggs in one basket. But I guess something went right because I was definitely prepared for college when I started! I somehow managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout undergrad studies, and I think the main contributing factor was the focus. This is definitely something PHS helped me understand; you have got to commit to your dreams. I did that with basketball in high school, and I did it with academics after high school. For math folks out there, the focus is
