Voices

Voices is the Op-Ed and personal essay section of The Georgetown Voice. It features the real narratives of diverse students from nearly every corner on campus, seeking to tell some of the incredibly important and yet oft-unheard stories that affect life in and out of Georgetown.


Voices

Dear Dirndl: Unraveling the thread of tradition

It is Oktoberfest, and all around college campuses, Amazon packages are arriving with beer-maid dresses that students will wear once or twice to an Oktoberfest darty. They will feel sexy... Read more

Voices

Dead or alive: Does Instagram determine our existence?

I no longer exist…on Instagram. My friends have texted me messages along the lines of “Did you delete Instagram? So-and-so was asking if you were dead!” With our end-of-semester photo... Read more

Voices

Jesus was a radical and Georgetown should follow his lead

As my undergraduate life commenced, with Olson having only left the university several months prior, I feared that exploring my nonbinary identity and self-expression would not be celebrated or welcomed. And I continued to internalize the narrative that my queerness contradicts Catholicism—that my queerness contradicts Jesus’s message, the central pillar of the Catholic faith.

Voices

Sock it to me

I often let my socks dictate my outfits. It might feel like a counterintuitive place to start, but with a dresser drawer overflowing with flamboyant patterns and pairs, socks help... Read more

Voices

Unlearning Saviorism: How Georgetown Can Prepare You for Global Development Challenges

Welcome, ambitious scholars! Your arrival at Georgetown is the result of years of late-night study sessions, determination, and perhaps a dash of serendipity and privilege. Some of you may be... Read more

Voices

“I know you love me, but do you like me?”: How leaving for college brought my mom and I closer

My mom, like most moms, cried the day she finally had to say goodbye after moving me into my freshman year dorm. We were standing outside of a bagel shop,... Read more

Voices

The dilemma of belonging: My FGLI experience at Georgetown

Entering Georgetown, for any student, means saying goodbye to something. It might be your family, friends, hometown, or anything else, but regardless, it’s intimidating. It’s most people’s first experience living... Read more

Voices

Discovering D.C. by bike

Getting oriented on the Georgetown campus as a freshman is no small feat. As you are suddenly swamped by all the fresh demands of college, you’ll understandably decide to prioritize... Read more

Voices

Hoyas, Be Less Bullish on Investment Banking

In my opinion, the accelerated recruiting timeline is a feature to poach talent before students’ prefrontal cortexes fully develop and they realize they don’t want to work for 90 hours a week. Take some time to network and explore different careers aside from banking and consulting!

Voices

​​A letter to my immigrant parents

This May, the Class of 2024 will celebrate their graduation with friends and family from all over the world. Graduation is especially important to me as a first-generation student and a daughter of immigrants. This letter and my degree are for all those immigrant parents who have watered and cultivated our hearts and souls through their love and dedication. 

Voices

A gentlewoman’s guide to going out alone

This exercise in solo spontaneity engendered a sense of community, resulting in a new friend made by virtue of being alone.

Voices

A celebration of English majors

What I specifically want to discourage in our hyper-motivated community is feeling poorly about yourself or questioning your academic passions because of what others are doing. Contrary to popular belief: your college major won’t define the rest of your life. And if you’re considering a major in the humanities, it almost certainly won’t lock you into a specific career, limit your prospects, or hinder your ability to be successful.

Voices

Obituary: Eric “The Fridge” Mittereder (1985-2024)

Eric Clark Mittereder, a writer, editor, and animating spirit for the Georgetown Voice from 2004 through 2008, passed from this mortal coil on March 28, 2024.

Voices

The search for Georgetown’s vibrant writing community

Not only do these classes force us to write outside of a purely academic mindset (because sometimes the econ quiz, IR paper, and Lau 2 fumes just aren’t conducive to storytelling), but they also carve out time for us to focus on honing our craft and narrative voice. Disparate students joined together through writing have grown into a veritable literary community at Georgetown. 

Voices

Crafting community: A thank you to the Maker Hub

At the time, my only perception of the Maker Hub was that it was a glorified Michaels. In the years since, I’ve learned that it’s first and foremost about inspiring Hoyas—not artistic ability, engineering prowess, or any of its fancy tools. It also has its own vibrant community of student volunteers with incredibly expansive skill sets who donate their scant free time to share knowledge with our visitors and one another. 

Voices

In perfect harmony: Reflecting on my time with Superfood

While Georgetown’s club culture often gets flak for being overly competitive, I do believe there is merit to surrounding yourself with people whom you admire, who challenge you and who you feel comfortable challenging yourself around. Admittedly, I still get anxious when it comes time to audition for solos, but I still try because I know the group is there to support me, in singing or elsewhere

Voices

The objective 100% accurate ranking of the freshman dorms (Not up for debate!)

That's right, this April Fools, the Voice hereby decrees that being normal is a good thing. In a world where Copley girls spit at you and Harbin boys bark at you, Reynolds kids simply nod at you and walk by. Or so we assume.

Voices

When you’re not ‘LinkedIn’ to the Georgetown culture

The obsession with Corporate America™ heightens in every baby-faced freshman as soon as they pass through Healy’s hallowed halls. From vying for unpaid positions in coveted consulting clubs to near fistfights over the front-row seat in IR lectures, Georgetown culture is defined not just by how well-connected you are, but how you subsequently climb the social ladder.

Voices

The death of DCist should scare you

There’s no way to analyze the closure of DCist without zooming out to look at the current media landscape and WAMU’s complicated relationship with its online news platform. The shuttering of the DCist website did not happen out of the blue. It was a strategic choice by the Washington-based NPR affiliate to stay afloat amid the turmoil of 21st century journalism.

Voices

An ode to ordinary people

I find that there’s something really special about local theater performances and afternoons at the skatepark and similarly small and insignificant things. They’re the moments we forget about if we don’t think hard enough, but they contain a sense of wonder and whimsy, an appreciation for the ordinary and oft undervalued.