Photo by Jamie Flanagan

by Jamie Flanagan

Even though I walk the halls of Harvey Ingham almost every day, I don’t feel as though I know many of the faces that pass by me, or even many of my fellow students. I set out to remedy this, starting with someone I know fairly well,
but wanted to learn more about. Her name is Annie Furman and she’s a sophomore majoring in physics and astronomy. While I know many of her goals and aspirations pertaining to her major, I wanted to delve a little deeper, so I brought up the question, what are your passions besides astronomy? She was quick to answer: music.

“I’ve been into music since I was a little,” Furman said.

She feels music can help her grow not only mentally, but also emotionally. Furman uses music almost as an outlet for the stress brought into her day to day life, and she “never gets bored of it.”

When I ask her about a person who has impacted her life, she struggled to answer,

“I feel like this question can be answered with two parts,” Furman said.

She continued to explain that at home, her little sister, Molly, and her family in general are a huge part of her life.

“They’ve been really really supportive of me and my life, especially my sister. She has pushed me to grow in new ways and adventure and reach beyond what I think I’m capable of,” Furman said.

When I asked her to expand on the second part of her answer, she replied by saying that being so far away from home has forced her to find new people here at Drake to help fill the empty spots her family no longer fills while at school.

“My friends at school have really picked up from my sister and have also really pushed me to be the best version of myself I can be,” Furman said.

While we went on to talk a little more about her time at Drake, I brought up this one question: what is your biggest struggle right now?

Being from Texas, Furman stated that the separation from her family has definitely taken a toll on her.

“My little sister just started high school this year and my family also has other personal issues going on that I wish I could be there to help out with, but I know I can’t,” Furman said. “So, it’s hard being that far away from my family, especially when a lot of changes are happening for the better and the worse.”

She then went on and took a positive turn on the biggest struggles she facing right now. “It helps us all grow. We’re all just growing in our own ways.”

In finishing up the interview, Furman wanted to say one last thing about Harvey Ingham and the people in it.

“This campus is incredible and the people here are incredibily nice and genuine,” Furman said.

She feels as though we’re doing an amazing job upholding the traditions and legacies left behind for us. Because of this, I want to continue to set out to find more people like Furman around Harvey Ingham. I want to discover more about these students who are making the physics and astronomy department here at Drake so unbelieveable.