{"id":24830,"date":"2025-08-21T10:11:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T14:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&#038;p=24830"},"modified":"2025-08-27T12:48:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T16:48:58","slug":"an-introverts-clark-journey","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/21\/an-introverts-clark-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"An introvert\u2019s Clark journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dean of Students Danielle Morgan Acosta\u2019s tips for finding your path in college<\/h2>\n\n\n<iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"175\" style=\"border:0;width:100%;max-width:800px;overflow:hidden;background:transparent;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/an-introverts-clark-journey-with-dean-of\/id1608025510?i=1000722867388\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"headshot of woman\" class=\"wp-image-24864\" style=\"width:340px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Danielle_Morgan_Acosta_2025-007-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Assistant Provost of Student Success and Dean of Students Danielle Morgan Acosta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A two-time and first-gen Clark alum, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/success\/people\/danielle-morgan-acosta\/\">Danielle Morgan Acosta<\/a> \u201905, MAT \u201906, knows what it\u2019s like to arrive at college and feel overwhelmed by all the opportunities ahead. Acosta, assistant provost of student success and dean of students, came to Clark all the way from California, and the self-identified introvert remembers leaning on her peer mentor and friends to help get settled on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group alignright boxout has-light-teal-background-color has-background is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-12dd3699 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Get involved in one of Clark&#8217;s more than 130 clubs and organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-blue-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/student-life\/\">explore your passions<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>On this episode of <strong>Challenge. Change<\/strong>., Acosta shares a few tips to help incoming students \u2014 introverted or not \u2014 step out of their comfort zones and find where they belong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think the best advice is to take a deep breath and try to be as much of a sponge as you can during your time in college,\u201d she says. \u201cUnlike other parts of your life, really, everywhere you turn during college is a learning experience. That can be incredibly exciting, but also tough and difficult. Clark offers so many opportunities for new experiences and for students to dive deeper into the things that they really care about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong> is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL?si=50399113fe324705\">Spotify<\/a>\u202for\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-white-color has-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-ac8453fc07e2d5688b26fbcadd5ff851\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10)\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"students and professor walk on city sidewalk\" class=\"wp-image-20738 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Urban_Ethnography_Lab_28_MAR_2025-0022-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Research, pop culture, and more on Challenge. Change.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/02\/building-equitable-cities\/\">What Does Justice Look Like in Your City? With Geography Professor Asha Best<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/20\/love-it-hate-read-it-how-to-be-a-modern-twilight-fan\/\">Our Enduring Love and Hate of Twilight with Sarah Gallagher<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/12\/how-sound-is-changing-the-planet\/\">Listening to a World of Sounds with Composer and Professor Matt Malsky<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dean of Students Danielle Morgan Acosta\u2019s tips for finding your path in college<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24831,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-deeper-red)","story_headerImg":24831,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[223],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[494],"topic":[176,203,119,121],"class_list":["post-24830","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clark-community","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","featured-secondary","topic-podcast","topic-staff","topic-student-life","topic-undergraduate-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>An introvert\u2019s Clark journey | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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