Acadia Webber ’12

As the oldest of three siblings, with a tight-knit family, I knew that if I didn’t go somewhere else for college, I’d probably never leave. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with most of my childhood spent in St. Petersburg, Florida, I’d had a streak of independence in me from the time I was little. After a trip to Europe in high school, I knew where I wanted to go next, and since I already spoke French, France seemed like the obvious choice. Once I found AUP, my mind was set.  

I’d always planned on majoring in Psychology, so during my first semester, I took a joint psychology and computer science course called “Thinking Self and Automated Other”. Not only is this still one of my favorite classes of all time, but it convinced me to double major in Psychology and Computer Science on the Information and Computer Technologies (ICT) track. After graduating, I moved to New York to attend Columbia University's Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program, and then attended its Institute of Human Nutrition, where I earned a Master's in Human Nutrition.  

At AUP, I was lucky enough to take classes with professors who respected and believed in me, which inspired me to respect and believe in myself. The confidence that I have today is a direct result of having met and learned with these talented individuals, who used theory and practice to teach us how people from every corner of the world can be so different and yet, so similar. My classes often only had 10 other students, with nearly all of us hailing from different countries. (I still keep in touch with students and professors, most of whom don’t even live on the same continent as me!) It was in Paris that I finally became an adult.  

AUP helped fuel my interest in mental health and cognitive science, and those passions guide me still, although I’ve taken them in a somewhat unconventional direction. I provide fitness and nutrition training and coaching through my company, AcadiaFit, am Club Director of a women’s gym and lifestyle club in Florida, and have started writing nutrition-related articles for various websites. Before choosing this field, living in Paris allowed me to take advantage of incredible opportunities: I helped teach English at a French pre-school, trained as an Applied Behavior Analysis Therapist at a school for children with autism, and interned for a clothing brand during Paris Fashion Week! You never know where AUP will lead you but if you’re willing to take the plunge, you’re sure to experience people and places that, most probably, you never would have otherwise. Allez-y!