Every Monday and Thursday night, you can find Mara Reba `28 at the pool in the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center, leading the Colby Swim Club practice. The current sophomore and Jersey City native is a global studies (GS) and Spanish double major who enjoys crocheting, ice fishing, and hanging out with friends.
“I’m originally from Jersey City, New Jersey. I’ve lived there my entire life,” Reba said. As an only child, she grew up with her mom, her dad, and her dog Finn. She often visited her family in Switzerland and Croatia. When she was home, her childhood was filled with the radio in the morning, the news in the afternoon, and long hours listening to political conversations with her family during Sunday dinners. It is those trips and daily conversations she overheard that sparked her early sense of global curiosity.
“Some of my earliest memories were of hearing NPR in the morning and my dad watching BBC World News,” she recalled. “I never really understood what they were talking about when I was little, but growing up in an environment where I constantly heard about global happenings really got me curious.”
Reba took great inspiration from her father’s origin story. He grew up in what was formerly Yugoslavia and later studied in the United Kingdom as a George Soros scholar before moving to the United States, where he met Reba’s mother. “That history of triumphing over global conflicts is definitely present in my family,” she said. “It shaped a lot of the principles in my upbringing.”
This upbringing ultimately led her to study GS at the College, where her inspiration continues to grow.
“I was always curious about politics and wanted to learn more,” she said. Reba points to the freedom to move across government, history, economics, and anthropology that you get when you study GS. “I really love the interdisciplinary framework,” she emphasized. “I can take what I learned in a history class into an anthropology discussion, or think about macroeconomics in a government class. Being able to tie the different disciplines together is my favorite part.”
Reba’s specific interests have narrowed down to human rights and social movements. While also pursuing her Spanish studies, she plans on studying abroad in Argentina next year to conduct field research on social movements in Latin America. While studying GS, “you can find a niche that interests you and go from there,” she said.
When she is not in class or at the pool, she spends her time crocheting. She took up the hobby during the Radical Stitch course this past JanPlan. Inspired, she now hopes to make more of her own clothes. “I want to move away from buying from fast fashion,” she declared.
Travel remains both academic and personal. Vietnam currently sits at the top of her bucket list. She credits this determination to the show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. “In his Vietnam episode, he said it was his favorite country in the world. Ever since then, I’ve really wanted to go.” To others interested in traveling, she recommends Croatia, especially the inland Osijek-Baranja region, where her family is from. “It has the most beautiful countryside and rolling hills you’ll ever see,” she said. “It’s very underrated.”
The most important advice that she can give to other GS majors: “Stay curious.” Curiosity, for her, began at a dinner table in New Jersey. Now, it has shaped her studies… and her plan for where to go next.
~ Summer Woo `28
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