Irie Gourde enjoyed an incredible first, and seemingly last, season on the Brandeis University track and field team in his senior season and was preparing for his post-college career.
RETURNING TO BRANDEIS
“Then my coaches recommended I enter the fifth-year program, but I was doubting whether I could get in,” he stated. “People encouraged me to pursue it and make the most of it. My mother was my biggest supporter and that was important because I would have to rely on her to do another year. She endorsed this possibility wholeheartedly.”
He looked at a lot of available programs on campus, landing on Sustainable International Development. “It was the one specifically geared to what I wanted to do. I was pining over every word of the cover letter and application,” Gourde recalled. “It was the longest two weeks I can remember. I took so long.”
Gourde also applied for a two-year stint with the Peace Corps and they offered him a position earlier than he expected. “I knew I wanted to take a day or two to think about it, and in that time, I received my grad school acceptance!” he exclaimed. “It was very exciting. I would get the chance to further test my potential in track, while being perfectly aligned with my career goals.”
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