It was Colgate’s aesthetic beauty that initially charmed senior Mary Liz Brady.

“I liked Colgate right away,” ex­plained Brady, a native of Buffalo, NY. “It was a picturesque campus – it looked like a movie set.”

However, Brady quickly realized there was much more to Colgate than just its pretty looks. After learning more about the school, the Economics major and Spanish minor found it to be a good fit academically. Brady also appreciates how Colgate nurtures the “di­verse interests” of its students.

“I have friends who spend hours per week working labs, some applying for fi­nance jobs and another who wants to teach elementary school,” Brady said.

Not surprisingly, Brady is a perfect ex­ample of an engaged student pursuing her interests. For the past three years, the senior has spent much of her time working at the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), a program run by the Upstate Institute which files tax returns for low-income people and families. As one of the three student leaders of VITA, this year Brady has recruited volun­teers, organized appointments and commu­nicated with non-profit organizations that partner with the group. Last year, the senior also participated in the consumer Bankrupt­cy Law Project, which trained her in basic bankruptcy law and filing procedures. With law school on the horizon, Brady feels that her law-based experiences at Colgate, as well as her legal internship last summer funded by the Jacobstein/Zimmerman fellowship, have cemented her decision to become a lawyer.

The senior, who went on the Colgate Madrid Study Group in the fall of 2009, equally relishes her travel abroad.

“I lived with a host family in a great area of the city and made friends I had never got­ten the opportunity to meet while at Colgate,” Brady explained.

Although the senior finds it hard to pinpoint a favorite Colgate memory, Brady considers the spring semester of her junior year to be particularly memorable.

“Between summer break and a fall semes­ter abroad, I felt like I had been away from Colgate for so long,” she said. “It was great re­uniting with my friends, moving down the hill and getting back to the Colgate atmosphere.

The senior is an adamant proponent of the common advice that all Colgate students should take advantage of what the school has to offer.

“Now that I’m in my last semester, I wish I had joined more organizations, attended more brown bags and guest lectures and spent every rare sunny day kayaking at the boat house.”