Maggie Zheng '26

BA Asian and Asian American Studies - Chinese Teacher Prep
Minor in China Studies 

On Stony Brook:

I heard of Stony Brook throughout high school and visited the campus a few times before. Some of my family members had also been here for college and recommended it for the rigor of the courses. Seeing as I'm from Long Island myself, coming here was a great opportunity to be in a much more diverse place while staying close to home. 

On her Major:

I've always been interested in foreign languages, and learning them has been an on-and-off project of mine since high school. Linguistics really helped me understand how languages work, and gave me a framework to use when studying new sounds and vocabulary in my actual language courses. Both majors gave me so much more insight into proper science and human history than I expected at the start. My classwork dealt with technology, philosophy and theory, and fieldwork much more than I expected at the start. My worldview has become much wider because of it.

Favorite class:

My favorite class has to be Environmental History of China with Professor Greg Ruf. The instruction was engaging with real-life knowledge mixed in, and I really enjoyed some of the readings and topics as someone with no prior knowledge of the subject. Prof. Ruf is an amazing professor with a lot of background knowledge, and his anecdotes were both helpful and eye-opening. I gained an appreciation for human history and evolution, and the human impact on nature, in a way that learning about facts in a timeline really hadn't made possible. The anthropological tie-in was so much more interesting being able to see its effects firsthand.

Advice for  potential Seawolves: 

It might seem like a no-brainer to focus on finding easy classes all the time, but there's a lot of value to some of the lesser-known or harder-seeming classes on campus. Taking harder classes with more unfamiliar topics really turns the gears on your time management skills and your ability to write and research. Doing this gives you loads of new information and writing strategies, and trains your sense of logic. Compared to high school, I feel like I'm a supercomputer, and I'm not exaggerating! There's a lot of freedom to be found in the college environment, and especially here. I recommend taking something new, unknown and higher-level, if your time and major allow it.

Favorite SBU memory:

My favorite memory has to be one May night in junior year, when a classmate and I had just finished our finals. After getting out of class for the very last time that academic year, we decided to walk to the railroad to buy some food and take it back to campus. We sat on the deck of the music building, stuffing our faces and talking about all of the things we would do while we were still together at school. We realized that we had accomplished way more than we thought we would! We volunteered to help run events held by the Department of AAAS, we did research together and presented it, and we met up almost every day to study in the library (with the occasional Starbucks run, of course). There's so much to do here, especially the events that make you feel like you've learned something.

Parting thoughts:

I've formed a small group of friends here who are in my major or have the same interests as I do. What I didn't realize was just how diverse our backgrounds and experiences would be, and what that would lead us to do together. I've been introduced to so many different kinds of clothing, games and celebrations that I would have never seen if I had just stayed in my Long Islander bubble. I've made trips to see concerts in different languages and went to karaoke parties with foods and drinks I’ve never had before. So many of these things seem impossible to do or find in a place like this, and that's definitely true to an extent. But that extent is only something you can find out when you explore it for yourself. Diversity is well and alive here, so take advantage of it!