Joseph Kopp is a senior from Long Island, NY majoring in biomedical science and minoring in psychology with a focus on pre-med. In addition to co-founding The Marist Business Review (MBR) this year, Joseph is the captain of both the Ski Team and the Indoor Rock Climbing Team. He also serves on the executive board of For the Record, a project that is part of Marist Initiatives, and maintains involvement in both the American Chemical Society and Psychology Club.

What made you choose Marist?
I would say the view, first and foremost. I love the foliage. I did a couple of tours here, and it had a pretty good sense of community all of the times; everyone was really excited to see us. It was great, from the very upbeat tour to the movie room. Of course, I toured other colleges, and this one grabbed me the most, and it was a good choice.

How did you choose your major?
I was always passionate about it, science stuck out to me in high school, and all the extracurriculars I got involved with early on were science, health, and hospital related. I really found a home for myself while job shadowing in the emergency room; I loved the fast-paced environment, and I found the profession I want to go into. I chose biomedical science which gears me up for pre-med. I figured that would be the best fit for me.

What internship and work-related experience do you have and how do these experiences align with your passions and future career goals?
I have a couple of jobs; I work as a pharmacy technician at a retail pharmacy. I’m also an emergency room scribe at Vassar hospital, where I dialogue and transcribe all of the patient and physician contacts. The MBR is a huge part of my extracurriculars; that’s kind of something where I get to express my passion for business, while still maintaining a science/academic background.

Marist has an institutional focus on "ethical leadership.” What does it mean to you and do you incorporate it into the work that you do?
As far as Marist Business Review, For the Record, and Ski Team, you can carry some pretty heavy leadership roles where you have a lot of influence over students, so it’s one thing to conceptualize the idea of ethical leadership, but it’s been interesting for me to learn how to grow into an ethical leader myself through practice, and a bit of theory versus practice; it’s been cool actually implementing it.

What’s your favorite “Marist Memory?”
I actually chose to go to college with two of my best friends from high school. This isn’t necessarily a memory, I guess it’s more of an experience. We picked the science floor our freshman year, that’s kind of how we managed to stay together, and we were all science majors. I’m fortunate enough to have the same group of friends I started college with, and I’ll surely finish college with.

What advice would you give to prospective students considering Marist?
It goes by too fast, it’s so cliche, but it feels like every time I go to sleep I’m a little bit closer to graduating. It’s terrifying and exciting! As a pre-med student, I have a very regimented course schedule but college is a time to explore and do different exciting things, which is why I found it so important to do things outside of my comfort zone. I declared a minor in psychology which is something that I didn’t even know I was interested in until I got here. Get involved, push yourself.

Written by Nicole Benedetto '18