Category: Georgetown Faces

Title: Jada Bullen (F’17)

Jada Bullen smiles to the side on Old North Terrace

“I don’t have a niche here at Georgetown. I know, it’s been close to four years on the Hilltop and I have yet to find that perfect fit. Georgetown offers such a range of activities and opportunities; I spent most of my first year just trying everything out, like most freshmen. The difference is, I never settled down after that. Every year, for the next three years, I led with the motto “New Year, New Me,” and look where it has got me: niche-less.

In retrospect, however, I’m not too bothered by it. Essentialisms are vastly overrated, and in any case, so is finding ‘yourself.’

Rather than finding a space of true belonging, my time here is categorized by quite the opposite. As a Georgetown student, I have really enjoyed getting lost.

I got lost my first week at Georgetown, all the way in downtown D.C. I was looking for the Zipcar office, because I was determined to not be that student that got stuck in the Georgetown bubble; instead, I ended up being that student who gets lost between Federal Triangle and Chinatown. At one point, I just sat on a bench and watched as people, who presumably possessed a better sense of direction, blew past me. I remember it as a great day. I realized how much I loved D.C. and unexpected discoveries.

Above all, I will always remember the best and most difficult time I got lost–across the Atlantic Ocean in the vibrant din of the Rabat Medina. I was lost for four months in Morocco; reeling in the blur of languages, and people, and music, and difference. Yet, I never perceived that as a bad thing. For me, getting lost means pushing boundaries, re-examining what you took for granted. I never felt that more than I did in Morocco, and it is because of Georgetown that I even made it there. The four months I spent abroad in Morocco taught me the merit of ‘losing yourself.’

 

To be honest, as a senior I am feeling a little bit lost right now. The dreaded F- word (future) is now upon me, and I am not sure which path to take.

At times, it feels overwhelming, but that is okay. When I look back, this is what I’m good at: trying new endeavors, testing the boundaries of my comfort zone. I live in that space of perpetual discovery and I stand indebted to Georgetown for offering all these pathways, all of these roads ‘less traveled by.’

So, here’s to never settling for a niche and always seeking out the fringe. As they say, if you aren’t living on the edge, you are taking up too much space.”

More Georgetown Faces

Luis Mendez began his career at Georgetown mopping and shining the basketball courts. Thirty-two years later, he oversees all the services that make athletics run smoothly.

Troy in his office next to his door with many stickers welcoming people to Copley Hall

Meet Troy Meury, the community director at Copley Hall and Ida Ryan & Issac Hawkins Hall who loves building community with Georgetown students.

A woman with glasses and a black shirt with white flowers on it smiles as she looks at a computer.

For years, Denise English was the first face students would see entering the Counseling and Psychiatric Services office. Now in a different role, she still wants students to feel loved.