Senior Emily Bradley has worked with Colgate’s Sidekicks program, giving guidance to a young girl named Shelby, for four years. As a Sidekick, Bradley regularly spends time with Shelby, playing games, going to movies and working on homework together.

“It’s weird to watch someone grow up,” Bradley said. “Because then you realize that you’ve grown up too.”

Bradley’s Colgate experience has seen family, community, nationality and citizenship all mesh together. She comes to Colgate from Canada, having grown up in Toronto, but currently resides in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a small town just over the American border. She is majoring in political science at Colgate with a minor in history and participates in a range of Colgate activities, such as the Sidekicks program, the Link program, the Colgate Admissions Office and the Konosioni Honor Society.

Active participation in the campus life has opened up many possibilities. It has especially given Bradley a feel for the vitality and variety of Colgate’s student body.

“Just in getting to know the Link staff, you meet people from every walk of life and every corner of campus,” Bradley said. “I loved having that sort of experience.”

Her work with first-years in the Link program goes hand in hand with her work in the Admissions office. In both roles, she has to welcome students to life at the university. In fact, she decided to work for admissions mostly because her own welcoming experience had been such a special moment in her life.

“I’m constantly faced with people at the beginning,” Bradley said. “I feel so excited for them and so jealous, too. I love everything thing about Colgate, the play-hard, work-hard atmosphere, the opportunities you have here. I would do it all over again.”

Bradley’s own background has let her offer her own set of views in the academic life. Her work in the political science department has opened many opportunities. She interned on a CBS political interview show, doing research and writing content. She also participated in the Washington D.C. study group.

Her stint at CBS even allowed her to be at the capital on the day of Obama’s inauguration. The experience left her with a special appreciation.

“The American presidency occupies an interesting space,” Bradley said. “The position that the founding fathers created wasn’t meant to be the branch that people were most connected to. Yet today, he’s the one on the television in their living rooms.”

Up to the President of the United States and back down to the Colgate campus, connections established and felt between people have played an integral role in Bradley’s Colgate experience.