The University of Maine offers hundreds of different clubs, activities and organizations for students to get involved in. As Black Bears, we take pride in the groups and teams that we are a part of and find ways to balance these extracurriculars with the many other aspects of daily life. One student in particular, fourth-year student Thilee Yost, stands out among the rest as someone who roots herself deeply in the clubs and activities she has joined at UMaine.
As a Teaching Assistant (TA), Resident Assistant (RA), the president of the Pre-Law Society, treasurer of Mock Trial and president of the Philosophy Club, Yost has found ways to juggle all of these activities over the course of her four years, while simultaneously working hard in her classes.
“My job as a TA is so rewarding, and also a big time commitment. I teach the Honors 170 class and there is a lot of learning involved for both me and my students,” Yost said. “It has really helped me develop professional skills, and also taught me how to bring up and discuss controversial topics in the classroom.”
Yost is attending the National Collegiate Honors Conference (NCHC), Nov. 8-10, to present to peers and faculty about her findings in Honors 170. She works with professors in the Honors College, as well as other teaching assistants, to help her students learn and thrive in the classroom.
“Our job in Honors 170 is to break the typical classroom norm when discussing particularly controversial, or politically-charged topics. We try to make the environment a friendly and civil place where opinions and voices can be safely heard,” Yost said.
Yost is a political science and philosophy student, and will be graduating this May. She hopes to take a year off of school to intern, and then apply to law school. Yost is currently preparing to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT).
“I knew pretty early on in my college career that I was interested in pre-law and going to law school. I found the society through the Campus Activities Fair in the fall of my freshman year, and have stuck with it ever since then,” Yost said. “I knew my end goal was to apply to law school, so these clubs have really helped me prepare for the future and to help build up my resume.”
This is Yost’s second year as president of the Pre-Law Society, and she just recently helped to organize and host a practice LSAT test webinar. She is also working on planning a Law and Justice Careers Day that was first introduced to UMaine last year.
Over the summer, Yost attended a Student Congress program where she worked with other students to debate and research topics related to the policy that her group was assigned. Her thesis is looking at Asian-American participation in United States politics in St. Paul, Minnesota and Fresno, California. She hopes to learn more about why Asian-Americans tend to vote less than other demographics in the country.
“College is a great place to explore and find your own identity, as cliche as that is. Not everyone takes this opportunity to do that, and they should,” Yost said. “Joining clubs like Mock Trial, and even being an RA, has taught me so much about how to be more confident with things like public speaking, and communicating with other students.”
In her free time, Yost tries to get together with the friends she has known since her first year at UMaine and decompress from the stress of school. She currently works as an RA in Doris Twitchell Allen Village (DTAV) and was an RA for Balentine Hall last academic year.
To learn more about UMaine’s Philosophy Club, Mock Trial, or Pre-Law Society please visit Umaine.edu or contact Yost via Thilee.Yost@maine.edu.
