When Addy Wynkoop started looking at colleges, she wanted a mid-sized school with a strong political science program in a big city.
That’s how Fordham got on her list. What sold her was how she felt on a campus tour.
“People hold doors for each other like crazy, no matter how awkwardly far away you are,” she says with a smile. “I think honestly that is the biggest sign of how much there is a culture and a community of care at Fordham—students, faculty, professors, administrators really just want to see each other succeed in every way possible.”
For Wynkoop, who came to New York City from Seattle, that feeling of community is especially important.
“You need to find some place that is going to be that home away from home for you, especially if you're from a long way away,” she says. “It’s kind of cheesy, but I like to think about the phrase ‘Home is where the heart is’ when I think about Fordham.”
Making Friends Through Clubs
Ever since her first year, Wynkoop has been adding to that community.
She welcomes high schoolers and families as a campus tour guide, and she helps bring bands like Role Model and other fun events to Fordham as a member of the Campus Activities Board. She also co-leads the Fordham chapter of A Moment of Magic Foundation, a student-run group of volunteers who visit children in local hospitals to “spark joy and foster connection.”
Wynkoop jokes that she was “one of those freshmen” who went to the club fair and signed up for everything. While she eventually narrowed down her involvement, putting herself out there helped her make friends.
“Maybe I showed up to the club meeting without a friend, but then I’m leaving and I’m going to dinner with a new one,” Wynkoop says. “It kind of erases that barrier of trying to figure out what you have in common with people, because you’ve already joined the same club.”
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Gaining Legal Experience as an Intern
Wynkoop says Fordham has also helped her feel at home in New York City, connecting her with a perfect internship opportunity for a political science major with a peace and justice studies minor on the pre-law track.
“It started with ‘intern work,’ but as I was building relationships with my supervisors, they started to give me a little more responsibility,” she says of her work at the Community Resource Center, a nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants and low-income families.
Wynkoop now works directly with clients, which will be “really valuable” when she’s ready to apply to law schools.
In the meantime, she has a long list of things she wants to experience, like studying abroad in Ireland and exploring summer research opportunities.
She’s determined to keep putting herself out there, even if it feels a little uncomfortable, because she knows someone will be there to hold the door open and help her make the most of everything Fordham has to offer.