Springboard to Success

Alyssa Fritz is a recent communications graduate from Frankenmuth, Michigan. Her unique MSU story was fueled by generous support from our Spartan community. This is her story:

My name is Alyssa Fritz, and I am a recent graduate.

I studied communication analytics and research methods, with minors in cognitive sciences and communicative sciences and disorders—with this, I am currently in the process of applying to clinical master’s programs in speech language pathology.

I want to acknowledge that I would Alyssa Fritz not have been able to be as involved as I was on campus without the help of donors like you to sponsor our student experiences, but I specifically want to thank the Kragt family for their family’s memorial scholarship through the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

I never would have thought getting involved with research would change as much as it did for me, mostly because when I graduated high school, I didn’t think it was an opportunity I would have at MSU. My first few weeks on campus, I had thought research was only for honors or science students. This led me to jumping on the first research opportunity I was invited to. Fortunately for me, I immediately felt at home in the lab and was able to grow into the student I am today.

This didn’t come without challenges though—I have battled imposter syndrome, a mindset where one doubts one’s own abilities, since my very first day here at MSU.

After much growth over the past four years, I have come to realize that there is no concrete path in education, but instead that we hold the tools to pave our own futures—to make it what WE want it to be—when offered the proper resources to do so.

My personal experiences led me to working as an ambassador and advisor with the University’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Office to help students from across all disciplines that have this mindset of my former self realize their strengths.