Rite of Passage: Catching Up with Four Students, Four Years Later

In 2015, BU Today launched a series we called “Rite of Passage”: BU photojournalist Jackie Ricciardi traveled from Boston’s suburbs to Minnesota to New York to photograph four incoming freshmen, members of the Class of 2019, as they prepared to start their journey at BU. Each welcomed Ricciardi into their home, sharing their hopes and dreams, fears and worries, and the ways their family had shaped their lives. Their parents also spoke candidly about their anxieties and aspirations for their children.

Four years later, Ricciardi caught up with the four Terriers she’d met back in 2015 as they were preparing to graduate and start the next chapter in their lives. BU Today brings you their updated stories.

Sam Desoto (CFA’19)

“Music has been the most beautiful thing in my life and I’d like nothing more than to share it with others by teaching it and performing it,” Sam Desoto said as he was starting at BU. The Long Island native is fulfilling his wish as a student in the College of Fine Arts five-year bachelor’s in music–master’s in music education program. This coming year, he’ll finish up a master’s at BU.

“Balancing everything, almost like spinning plates, was my initial worry,” he says now.

Sam Desoto (CFA’19) practicing the saxophone at home on Long Island in summer 2015.

He describes being hit with a sudden realization: “I was by myself, and I had to basically devise my own lifestyle, which I wasn’t used to doing. I was really lucky and had a supportive family who was always there for me, but the downside to that is when you step into a new environment by yourself, you realize that maybe you have some worries you didn’t know—something you battle with when you’re by yourself for the first time. But it all ended up working out.”

Despite his love of music, Desoto says, he struggled with doubts about his abilities and his choice of major. “I think I’m just learning how to be okay with what I am doing. Coming into BU, I thought I had a strong sense of who I am, but now I really have a good idea of where I’m going and why I’m doing it.”

After completing his master’s degree, Desoto hopes to pursue a career in music education in the Boston area.

At BU, he’s been involved in work with BU’s highly selective Opera Institute and became a teaching fellow at the Boston Children’s Chorus. One of his fondest memories is writing a choral piece and bringing a group of more than 20 friends together, rehearsing it with them, and then performing it during his senior recital, in addition to the required hour of music he’d prepared. “Did I achieve as much as I thought I would? I think I did and more, which is kind of crazy,” he says.

Now in the master’s year of his BU program, Desoto is looking forward to living in his own apartment and freelancing as a singer and teacher. He plans to conduct a community chorus and join a professional choral ensemble as well as continue working at the Boston Children’s Chorus. He hopes next to pursue a career in music education in the Boston area.

Sam and his mother, Marie, in an emotional good-bye in 2015 (left). The two celebrate his graduation (right).

Kayla Furbish (CAS’19)

Kayla Furbish, who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a rare, inherited connective tissue disorder caused by a defect in the structure or production of collagen or the proteins that interact with collagen, had concerns different from most incoming freshmen. “Coming into BU, I wasn’t sure if my body would be able to hold up. I didn’t know if I’d be able to eat at the dining halls or handle the amount of walking required to get to my classes. And the first few months were definitely a challenge.

“When I first started walking from Kenmore Square to West Campus every day, I started to have ankle, knee, and hip pain that was getting increasingly worse,” she says. “I specifically remember one afternoon in October 2015, I was walking from class, and my knee dislocated with every single step I took. I sat down on a bench and was just really frustrated and disappointed.”

Kayla Furbish (CAS’19) was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare, inherited connective tissue disorder, when she was 14.

But Furbish turned that frustration into perseverance, powering through the pain. “I kept walking through dislocations and over time my body started to adjust.” Her body began to become more conditioned, she says, her joints more stable. By the end of that first year, she had regained many of the abilities she’d lost when she was diagnosed with the condition at age 14. “Making positive progress fueled me to keep pushing harder.”

She started practicing yoga, and eventually was cleared to do one of the things she most loved and missed: rock climbing. “Climbing for the first time after five years felt like coming up for air after drowning. I felt like myself again for the first time since getting diagnosed. Rock climbing reminds me that you can have EDS and be strong. Climbing has taught me to work with my body rather than fight against it, and climbing is my biggest motivator to continue working hard every day to take care of my body and my health.”

At BU, Furbish started practicing yoga, and eventually was cleared to do one of the things she most loved and missed: rock climbing.

Furbish also found a community in BU’s Outing Club. Among the group’s activities are weekend hikes, where they’d rent vans from Athletics and drive to the White Mountains. “I’m going to miss having this group of people who all really care about getting outside,” she says.

Starting as an English major, Furbish switched her major to psychology. After graduation, she’ll be working at Massachusetts General Hospital, conducting research on post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. She plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology, with an ultimate goal of specializing in health psychology and continuing to research chronic illness and well-being.

Furbish will work after graduation at Massachusetts General Hospital, conducting research on post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Wooyoun Lisa Hong (Wheelock’19)

The summer before freshman year, Wooyoun Lisa Hong told BU Today that she’d always felt out of place. Born in Canada to South Korean parents, she was raised in Shoreview, Minn. At BU, she says, she found a sense of community.

“Something that really surprised me was how small BU began to feel. On a campus of more than 30,000 students, I fully expected to feel overwhelmed and lost, yet my experience was the exact opposite,” she says. “I could never step out of my room without bumping into a friend, and I found that anywhere I went, there was a community or group of some sort excited to welcome me.”

Hong, who was diagnosed with clinical depression in middle school, says that she quickly learned “what it was like to be a college student with high-functioning anxiety, and the implications that would bring into my college experience.”

Lisa Hong (Wheelock’19) at her Shoreview, Minn., home in summer 2015. Diagnosed with clinical depression in middle school, her love of playing the cello helped her get through what she calls her darkest days.

She came into BU as a dual English and English education major, but ended up switching to a major in math education. “I wanted to stay within education, but really missed all the puzzles and challenges that come with math,” she says.

Over the course of four years at BU, Hong has navigated many bumps. Besides changing majors, she decided she didn’t want to be a teacher as she’d originally planned. “I also had a cancer scare during my third year that wreaked havoc on my personal and academic life—but in every one of these situations I was supported and encouraged by incredible friends and mentors who believed in me and helped me continue,” she says. These hardships helped her “approach every situation with a growth mind-set, becoming more sure of myself, and connecting with and empowering others.”

A farewell photo, taken by Lisa’s dad just before her parents left for Minnesota after dropping her off at BU in 2015.

At BU, Hong was an orientation program advisor, a program and operations assistant in the Dean of Students office, and an Educational Resource Center peer tutor. Enjoying these roles made her realize she wanted to pursue a career in higher education. In the fall, she’ll begin working on a master’s in higher and postsecondary education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, while working in the school’s admissions office.

“The ultimate dream,” Hong says, “is to find a position on a college campus that allows me to continue supporting and empowering students I meet, especially those who have experienced adversity or are from marginalized communities.”

Lisa and friends during Commencement weekend. “At BU, I could never step out of my room without bumping into a friend, and I found that anywhere I went, there was a community or group of some sort excited to welcome me,” she says.

Jess Bajada Silva (CAS’19)

When BU Today first met Jess Bajada Silva at her home in Farmingdale, N.Y., she was preparing to become the first in her family to go to college, thanks to two scholarships that gave her the opportunity to attend BU.

The Kilachand Honors College student says she had to learn to adjust to being surrounded by so many students who had been as successful as she was in high school. “Acceptance of failure was always my hardest challenge at BU,” Bajada Silva says. “I think a lot of students experience this in their time here; in college, we become little fish in a big pond. Now we’re all congregated together in the same classes and majors. Imposter syndrome was strong for my first semester of freshman year.”

Jessica Bajada Silva (CAS’19) in her bedroom at home in Farmingdale, N.Y., a month before starting freshman year.

But she quickly adapted, jumping into activities such as CAS student government, becoming an admissions ambassador, and joining the synchronized swimming team. The summer after her junior year, she became a fellow at the Boston Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Racial Equity. “It made me realize I love city policy and working with local governance,” she says.

Bajada Silva initially planned to study biology at BU, but soon discovered that she hated working in a lab. “It’s solitary work with chemicals, both things I’m not really that great at,” she says.

Bajada Silva and friends celebrate the end of senior year. At BU, she says, she had to adjust to being a little fish in a big pond.

With a major in environmental analysis and policy and a minor in Italian, she wound up finding a degree program that combined her passion for the environment and protecting natural resources and her interest in policy work. On May 19, she graduated summa cum laude from Boston University.

Now Bajada Silva has started working at the Boston law firm Latham & Watkins in an attorney support role, with a plan of taking a two- to three-year break and then most likely going to law school.

Saying good-bye in 2015 (left). Celebrating a hard-earned degree. The first in her family to go to college, the Kilachand Honors College student graduated summa cum laude (right).

Mara Sassoon can be reached at msassoon@bu.edu; follow her on Twitter at @M_Sass_1, or connect with her on LinkedIn.