Dear Future Sam,
Wow, you’re looking great. I’m glad you took care of yourself all those years. Anyway, the purpose of this letter is not flattery; rather, I wanted to create a snapshot of myself at this point in my life, about to start the WASFP program at U of M, for you to look back on later. First, I’ll refresh your memory on where I’m at. I’m a sophomore at the University of Michigan, hailing from the teeny-tiny town of Sheridan, Michigan, and currently planning to major in Data Science. I’m living in the cheapest sublet on South Forest I could find, which means sharing a room with a night-shift nurse and suffering without A/C, but for $150/month I can’t complain. I’m going to be researching women in rural India for the WAGSFP program. This research will be a continuation of the work I did for her over the past academic year, only this time the focus will really be on women and their empowerment. I am very excited to dive deep into the Women’s Empowerment Index and learn how to use R (a statistical programming software) in new ways. I am expecting to have to google R functions a lot, as usual, but that’s part of the process. For me, nothing tops the feeling of solving an R puzzle you’ve been working at for an hour. Yesterday, I met all of my fellow WAGSFP researchers, and I have a feeling they’re going to be a great group. Well, it’s time for me to head off to work and begin this 10-week adventure. See you on the flip side.
Best,
Present Sam