“I really enjoyed my first year. It was a lot of work, but that’s what everybody expects,” she said. “It was really hard and overwhelming.”

So, in her new, unfamiliar surroundings, she found comfort in the familiar.

“I tried to take time for myself, go running or to do something I’ve always done before,” she said. “I needed some kind of balance.”

Cruz, who is from Canada and found out about Quinnipiac on the Internet, quickly discovered she had a lot in common with many other first-year students – they were not from Connecticut and had no family here. She made friends and study partners.

She also found friends in student groups. She’s a member of the Student Bar Association and Tax Law Society.

“What you learn in class prepares you for the work environment, but you don’t necessarily know what you want to do. In student groups you’re working in a team. It’s a little like work experience because you work in a group and accomplish goals.”