Today we’re shining a spotlight on Interdisciplinary Studies sophomore, Mimi Burnod! Burnod is a Resident Assistant at West Hall, and former UTA Ambassador and Student Senator. She’s from Houston, TX, and is half-French, half-Taiwanese.
Mimi Burnod stands outside College Hall.
MR: Tell me about your experience as an INTS major.
MB: Basically, my sister – she went to UT Austin, and she did a similar program where you design your own degree plan. So when I learned about that, I found it really interesting. I thought to myself, when I go to college, I want to see if they have a program like that. When I came here, at the orientation there was actually a table for INTS, and that’s how I learned about it. But in the beginning, my major was Art History, because that’s something that really interested me. But then I realized that I wanted something more personalized to my specific goals, so then I met with Rebekah – I think it was the end of my first semester at UTA, and right away I knew… I [wanted] to change my major to INTS. Rebekah helped me so much to design the degree plan.
MR: With INTS you minor in different things. What are your specializations?
MB: My tracks are in Theatre, Dance, and French.
MR: Do you have any goals for the rest of your time as an undergraduate?
MB: Right now, I’m in the Maverick Dance Company… We do a show every semester and we have different pieces that are all choreographed by the students. So right now I’m just dancing in it, but one of my goals is to choreograph a piece for the show.
MR: I know it’s kind of far off, but do you have any goals for after graduation?
MB: Of course, yes. My interests are in Dance, Theatre, of course, and then the French culture and Art History. I have so many different career goals, but one of them is to teach dance… another one of my goals is to write books. I love to write; I love to write poetry, but I would want to write fiction and nonfiction, as well, and write about my experiences as a dancer, all the life lessons I’ve learned through dancing, and what it means to be an artist.
MR: Tell me about your upcoming trip to Paris.
MB: I’m really excited about going to study abroad in Paris, and I think it’s really amazing that we’re able to do that with UTA, so that I can have this experience but it’s still going towards my degree. The really cool thing about it is that I’ll be able to take dance and acting classes at a conservatory and have those credits count towards my degree. Paris is very famous for the arts, all the art history, the museums, so I’m really excited to learn about that. To be able to go in person and see the paintings and the statues in the museums that we study about, not just seeing the picture in the textbook – I think that will make the learning experience a lot more meaningful and interactive.