HAVING A DOUBLE MAJOR KEEPS SATENIK BUSY AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
Marsha James

Voice of America
May 21 2009

Having an opportunity to come to the United States in high school
was Satenik Sargsyan’s initial exposure to studying in the U-S. "Well
first of all I was an exchange student, an high school exchange student
in the United States before and I went back home after a year in the
United States I went to college there and then I learned about this
program, this scholarship that was offered to Armenian students to
come and study in the United States and I have always thought of the
United States as a country of great opportunities and I decided to
take a shot and come and study here."

Studying at Utah State University is far from home for Satenik. "I’m
from Armenia. It is a tiny dot on the map. It’s Eastern Europe,
sometimes considered Western Asia, sometimes Middle East, but it is
a beautiful country with a lot of culture and a lot of traditions,"
she says. "I am going to Utah State University. I am double majoring
in Political Science and print Journalism and minor in French and
I’ve have not regretted for a second for coming and studying here."

Choosing Journalism and Political Science as her majors came easy
for Satenik due to the fact she enjoys talking and getting to know
people. "I was studying Journalism back home and it’s something that
I am good at. I know I am good at writing. I am good at communication
and I really, really enjoy communicating, socializing with people," she
says. "I could never see myself as a Computer Science major, Business
major because numbers at boring to me I just love communicating with
people and talking to people and I figured that Political Science
and Journalism would both be good majors for that."

With the workload Satenik has pursing two majors; she says it all
will be worth it in the end. "I’ve always seen the United States as
a country of opportunities and here I go to college and I realize
that it is going to pay me back and what I am learning here is maybe
the tuition, maybe to go to school in another place, another country
would be less expensive, but the education is really worth it and I
realize that after all it is going to pay me back for all my hard work
and all the money that my sponsors are putting in for my education,
it is going to pay me back in the end."

Satenik also says just the difference in the education system here
versus back home is another reason why studying here is for her. "Well,
the education system the college system is totally different. Back
home we go to school for let’s say four months and then we have all
of our exams at the end and we have maybe one exam in the middle of
the semester and here I am constantly busy," she says.

"I would say here it is not hard, college is just very time consuming
and if one wants to get good grades then one should really put
their time into it. So that would be one difference. It is very time
consuming whereas I would say back home the studies would be more based
on theory and here it’s more of a hands on learning experience. It’s
the practice that matters and of course the environment is different
as well."

Graduation for Satenik takes place in two years, 2011 and what’s next
consist of … "I’m thinking about going to Law school. I would for
sure love to go to one of the Ivy League schools here if I get the
chance," she says. "I was also thinking about going and studying in
France. So, I am going into Law I have decided that for myself and
we will just see what happens."

Satenik’s advice to other students….."I would tell them don’t be
afraid to try. If you win you get to study in a great country with
many opportunities open for everyone. If you lose at least you gain
experience and learn how to do better the next time," she says. "I
think if you have a goal nothing should stop you from achieving
it. All you have to do is just try."