Fish Fischer ’24

Other clubs, sports, activities: 
Shoutout to the Spatial Analysis Lab and Hillary in the Kosher Kitchen! 

If another student was considering your major, what would you tell them? 
What’s unique about ES&P is how interdisciplinary its students and classes are. You might take the same core courses as every other ES&P major or minor, but the foundational courses and electives are where you can pursue your interests. This could be marine biology, GIS, or climate justice. The major is what you make it! 

What do you see as a potential future dream job or career? 
Whatever work I find after Smith, I hope to be in spaces that foster inclusion and collaboration across disciplines. After all, complex problems require multifaceted solutions that can’t be handled by one person or discipline alone. 

What’s one piece of advice you’d like to share about your time at Smith? 
As students, there will always be classes to attend and homework to be done. But the experiences I’ve found to be most fulfilling were the ones having absolutely nothing to do with school. Hang out with your friends, wander the Lyman Plant House, go to dinner downtown! Taking time to focus on things other than school is what kept me sane.

Describe the last project you were involved with in a one-sentence review. 
Awesome opportunity to practice my spatial mapping and geodatabase management skills by updating the MacLeish Field Station trail kiosk map! 

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? 
Assuming I had no commitments, I would wake up and let the day unfold naturally. I would get dressed, brush my teeth, and wander downstairs for a cup of coffee or tea—depending on how much caffeine I need. I would do some journaling, maybe run a few errands. A walk in the woods is always relaxing. I’d have to grab a bite to eat somewhere. Of course, no day is complete without good music to accompany it. My go-to is my 50s-80s blues and rock playlist, though I’m always down for some Mitski or Hozier. 

Where is your favorite spot on campus? What do you think is a "hidden gem"? 
I love wandering around Lyman Plant House. An underrated and lesser-known space on campus is Special Collections, located on the 3rd floor of Neilson Library. Their collection of rare books is incredibly diverse and broad in its extent! 

What’s one thing you wish you could tell your first-year self about your Smith experience? 
You’re going to experience a lot of changes in college. You’re going to make friends, lose them, question your gender identity, take classes you love and will shape the trajectory of your Smith experience. You’re going to make mistakes, and that’s okay. But within all the chaos and turbulence, you are going to pursue your interests and grow and thrive. 

What do you think has been the most “Smithie” thing you’ve done in life so far? 
I arrived at Smith knowing that Smithies are notoriously try-hards and wanting to avoid becoming one at all costs. End of sophomore year, I decided to double-major. By junior year, I joined a research lab and decided to pursue an honors thesis. By senior year, I fully embraced becoming a try-hard Smithie, the very thing I wanted to avoid. 

How would you like to use your Smith knowledge to change the world? 
Above all else, Smith has reminded me of the importance of being kind and practicing empathy. Being human is hard, so why not be kind to yourself and be understanding of other people’s experiences? Let yourself be weird. It’s okay—we all are. Wherever I go, whatever I do after Smith, I want kindness and weirdness at the center of it.