{"id":7678,"date":"2025-05-27T12:28:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T16:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=7678"},"modified":"2025-05-27T12:28:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T16:28:23","slug":"back-to-the-books-a-32-year-old-finds-new-purpose-in-philosophy-and-italian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2025\/05\/back-to-the-books-a-32-year-old-finds-new-purpose-in-philosophy-and-italian\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Books: A 32-Year-Old Finds New Purpose in Philosophy and Italian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Stephanie Reyes, sophomore student, going for a run after one of her classes around Lexington Ave.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 32, Stephanie Reyes isn\u2019t your typical college sophomore and that\u2019s exactly the point. After nearly a decade in the hotel industry, she traded late check-ins and room service calls for ancient texts and Italian verbs. Now, with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a growing passion for Philosophy, she\u2019s proof that it\u2019s never too late to change course and follow curiosity wherever it leads.<\/p>\n

Reyes first went to college at 19, earning an associate degree in hotel management at Nassau Community College. The choice, she admits, was more practical than passionate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted something stable,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone kept telling me hospitality was the way to go; good money, good travel perks. But I realized pretty quickly that I didn\u2019t love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she stuck with it. For ten years, she worked front desk jobs at hotels across New York City, managing reservations, opening brand new hotels, training new staff, and handling rude customers. On paper, she was successful. Inside though, something was missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began to read beginner books on philosophy whenever I had time,\u201d Reyes says with a laugh. \u201cStuff about ethics, Vita Nuova, ancient Rome. I think I just craved meaning, more than I could find in continental breakfasts and customer satisfaction surveys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The turning point came during the pandemic when she, like many others, found herself with more time and fewer distractions. While furloughed, she began taking free online courses in philosophy and Italian. The language she says was a gateway to culture and history; the philosophy, a tool for thinking deeply about life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like waking up,\u201d Reyes recalls. \u201cI realized I didn\u2019t want to just make a living, I wanted to understand life itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now in her seventh semester as a full-time undergraduate at Hunter College, she\u2019s pursuing a double major in Philosophy and Italian. Her days are filled with readings of Aristotle and Descartes and long hours mastering Italian grammar. While some classmates are a decade younger, Reyes finds her age an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived a little,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we talk about ethics or purpose, I can draw on real-life experiences. I think that perspective adds something valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reyes is part of a growing trend. After years of decline, the number of students earning philosophy bachelor\u2019s degrees in the U.S. has stabilized and even increased slightly in recent years. Enrollment in philosophy majors has risen in recent years, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, cited<\/a> in a report on SchwitzSplinters, a blog by philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel. UC Berkeley saw a 121% increase in humanities majors, Forbes<\/a> reported in 2022.<\/p>\n

Reyes long-term goal? Possibly graduate school. Maybe a career in teaching or translation. She dreams of living in Italy one day, teaching English and immersing herself in philosophical texts at old caf\u00e9s, surrounded by books, espresso, and the Italian countryside.<\/p>\n

But for now, she\u2019s content just learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people look at me like I\u2019m starting over,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I\u2019m not. I\u2019m starting right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nearly a decade in hospitality, a student returns to college to explore life\u2019s big questions and finds herself in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":7690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[486,279,459],"class_list":["post-7678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-life","tag-cunystudents","tag-huntercollege-hunterstudents","tag-student-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7691,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678\/revisions\/7691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}