My Fisk House Experience: Maria Gorret Nampiima
About Her Voice. Her Message. Expertise, diversity, philanthropy, and fellowship are woven throughout the Boston University Women’s Guild, Women of Color Circle, and the greater BU community. This series taps into the University’s professional, academic, and philanthropic network, and proudly welcomes a variety of voices, experiences, and expertise.
About Fisk House
Fisk House is a cooperative residence for women graduate students enrolled at Boston University that has been housing BU graduate students since 1933. Administered by the Office of Residential Life and supported and maintained by the Boston University Women’s Guild since February 2020, Fisk House provides a residence for 16 students at a nominal cost. It is the only subsidized graduate student residence at Boston University.
My Fisk House Experience
I am Maria Gorret Nampiima, a second-year graduate student at Boston University’s School of Theology. As an international student from Uganda, one of the things that worried me most about pursuing graduate school as a full-time student in the USA was the living expenses, specifically the cost of housing.
Being selected to be one of the residents in Fisk House meant a lot to me because I lost my dad a month after starting school, something that took a toll on me personally and financially. If I hadn’t qualified for this opportunity, the only option I had was to look for affordable housing miles away from the city, which would mean many hours of commute to school.
That said, becoming a resident of Fisk House has been life changing. Residing in Fisk House has helped me connect with students from different cultural and academic backgrounds than mine, which has served as a point of growth because I get to benefit from the broad wealth of knowledge each day I commune with my fellow residents. I have been able to associate with students from different schools such as Visual Arts, Fine Arts, Music, Law, Public Health, Theatre, and Social Work.
Through conversations in our shared dining space, I have been privileged to learn about other academic disciplines and it’s always been amazing to find an intersection regardless of our differences. As someone from the African continent, the ability to learn from the diverse cultures in Fisk House through observation and conversations has been more profound to me. For example, I have been able to practice some Spanish with residents because it’s a language I would like to utilize in my career. In one of the community hangouts, a friend from China invited us to participate in making dumplings; the experience did not only help me to learn a new skill but helped us to connect with fellow residents and created a safe space for us to unwind from the stress and anxiety that comes with graduate school.
“Residing in Fisk House has helped me connect with students from different cultural and academic backgrounds than mine, which has served as a point of growth because I get to benefit from the broad wealth of knowledge each day I commune with my fellow residents.”
Besides the learning experience, I get to walk for about 10 minutes to school, and I get to report to my workplace on time. As someone who is badly affected by the cold given that this is only my second winter experience in my lifetime, having to walk a short distance from school saves me from enduring the pain of standing in the cold to wait on the next train.
In addition to this, the Fisk House scholarship has helped me meet my living expenses with ease because I get to save on housing and transport costs compared to students in other campus residents or those residing off-campus. Besides the nominal house rent, we are also lucky to have a waiver for laundry and additional food supplies which really reduces my financial burden as an international student.
My sincere and heartfelt thanks to all the amazing women who work tirelessly to support students like me to get affordable housing.
About the Author: Maria Gorret Nampiima, a second-year graduate student at Boston University’s School of Theology working towards a master’s in divinity on the Global and Community Engagement track with focus on Restorative and Ecological Justice.