By Kayla Markowitz – Editor-in-Chief 

It has been approximately a year and a half since the last update on Jonathan Law Class of 2024 graduate Maya Markowitz.

Markowitz is finishing up her sophomore year at Boston University, where she is studying Biology. Since the last update, Markowitz has experienced a number of changes to her initial post-graduation life. 

“If I could talk to myself post graduating high school, I wouldn’t tell her to change anything about her path,” Markowitz said. “Although I was unhappy during my freshman year, I feel like it is all a part of a bigger picture and I don’t regret anything about it.”

One of the major changes in Markowitz’s life since last October is her transfer from Lehigh University to Boston University. 

“I struggled to find my place at Lehigh, and ultimately knew that I wanted to be at a different school,” Markowitz said. “This was a hard pill for me to swallow because obviously senior year I thought that it would be a perfect fit – good thing I have learned more about myself since then.”

Despite navigating a challenging semester, Markowitz has remained active in the BU and broader Boston community. 

“My favorite days are the days where I teach swim lessons because it is really refreshing to be away from school and just work with people to help them achieve their goals,” Markowitz said. “Aside from swim instruction, I am also involved in BU’s Dance Theater Group, so sometimes I have rehearsal for that in the evening.” 

Along with swim lessons and dance, Markowitz spends her free time at her internship, or making plans with her friends. Even with a busy schedule, Markowitz understands the importance of work-life balance and values blocking out time to maintain relationships. 

“I also intern at Brigham and Women’s hospital, so on some days, I go there and help out with patient and family experience,” Markowitz said. “I try to see my friends often as well, but it’s really hard to work into my daily routine sometimes. I try to plan to have dinner with my friends at least once a week.”

While there is pressure to establish a major and future career goals for many young students, Markowitz preaches that it is more important to be true to yourself, even if that means shifting paths. 

“Changing my major also feels like a rite-of-passage, because how would I have known what I wanted to study unless I studied something else first,” Markowitz said. “When I was struggling with all of the changes over the past two years, I called my grandpa to talk about it and he said something really impactful to me. He said ‘you love to plan, as people we make plans but it is so much more important that you adapt your plan when things don’t go as expected because things never go as expected.”

Over the summer, Markowitz plans on coming back to Milford and continuing to gain valuable work experience, while letting herself enjoy some time off from a busy sophomore year. 

“Over the summer, I plan on recovering from this insane semester,” Markowitz said. “I plan on working more to save up some money for the semester and also volunteer in Milford to gain more experience relevant to my future career goals.”