Graduation | Vanderbilt University

Gabby and Madie are twin sisters, who both graduated from Vanderbilt University in May of 2020. I’ve been friends with them for four years now, and they are two of the sweetest friends and smartest humans I know.

Both of them spent their time at Vanderbilt University well, and now have bachelors in Biological Sciences. I actually got to take Neurobiology of Behavior with Gabby during our junior year and it is by far the best class Vanderbilt has to offer (seriously, if you’re a Neuro major, you NEED TO TAKE IT.). Dr. Catania is one of the kindest, most humble, and most intelligent professors at Vanderbilt, and is really passionate about his students and making sure we actually know what we are talking about. In that class, Gabby and I learned about many different types of animals, how they respond to various stimuli, and unique characteristics about them that allow them to complete various tasks. Our professor even had the Nashville Zoo bring a few animals to class one day to teach us more about owls and other various animals — it’s seriously the best class, hands-down.

When the COVID-19 outbreak started happening, Vanderbilt University quickly sent students home. On Monday March 9, all classes for the week were cancelled, extracurriculars were canceled for the rest of the year, and classes for March were moved online. On Wednesday, they changed the protocol, telling all students that classes would be online for the rest of the year and also asking all students to move home by Sunday. Since everything happened so fast and there was so much to do (including processing the fact that senior year was ending), many people were not able to take all of their things home, and seniors had to leave abruptly, without properly storing their belongings.

This past week, Vanderbilt started allowing students back on campus to pack up and head back home with all their belongings. Because of this, I had the lovely opportunity to see these two women again, meet their momma and aunt, and just give some lovely air hugs.

Check these photos out! I’m so excited for everything that the future holds for these two.