OAKLAND — When Prosny Louis visited Northeastern University’s Oakland campus for the first time, a security guard at the front gate asked him if he was nervous about entering college.
“I must have had that look on my face,” he said.
But before he could answer, the guard smiled and said, “Oakland is going to change you into a better person.”
Although Louis didn’t comprehend what he meant at the time, he would soon understand.
“Oakland did change me – but not into a better student,” said Louis, 18, a Sleepy Hollow, New York native. “Into a better, more open-minded version of myself.”
Louis recently spoke at Rothwell’s Little Theater, participating as one of six student speakers at “Voices of NU Oakland,” a storytelling competition with a $200 prize on the theme of what makes Northeastern University’s Oakland campus feel like home.
Louis was one of six students who recently spoke at Rothwell’s Little Theater during “Voices of NU Oakland,” a storytelling competition with a $200 prize on the theme of what makes Northeastern University’s Oakland campus feel like home.
The students said in their speeches that the Oakland campus helped them build friendships, find belonging and grow through shared experiences and conversations that turned strangers into a supportive community.
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
Students competing in the storytelling competition were asked to highlight the many positives of living on the school’s 135-acre Oakland campus. Photos by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
Victoria Partika, Northeastern’s social media specialist on the Oakland campus, said she envisioned the competition a year ago to highlight the many positives of living on the school’s 135-acre enclave of historic buildings and stately grounds, near San Francisco and Silicon Valley, with thriving businesses and opportunities for experiential learning.
“My goal is to get positive Oakland stories out there,” Partika said. “Just to be able to have well-thought-out, honest stories of students talking about their experiences.”
Partika organized the event with student ambassadors, who do social media projects for the university. They wanted to share what’s special about learning in Oakland, letting prospective students and parents know that it’s a great place for higher education.
“They love it here and they’re always sad to leave,” Partika said.
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
03/13/26 – OAKLAND, CA. – Scenes during the Voices of NU on Northeastern’s Oakland campus on March 13, 2026. Photo by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
Six students competed in Voices of NU Oakland, which was won by first-year economics major Reese Balemian, whose speech was titled “Wave. Photos by Supriya Limaye for Northeastern University
For student speaker Averi Wigley, 19, from Saratoga Springs, New York, that positivity came from bonding with new friends over a California sunset.
“The beautiful, vibrant blue mixed with the yellows and pinks near the horizon is so different from East Coast sunsets,” she said, remembering an impromptu trip she and her new classmates made one evening to Panoramic Hill in nearby Berkeley. Piling in the car with backpacks and blankets, the stress of classes and tests began to fade, turning into conversations about favorite restaurants and childhood stuffed animals.
The trip inspired Wigley to slow down and get to know the Bay Area landscape and fellow students in a new way. She soon discovered she didn’t need to drive to get that connection – it was right there on campus.
She’d notice the sunset coming back from the Haas gym, from the top of Mary Morse Hall, and on the many hiking trails on campus, which offered a glimpse of the sky changing colors, surrounded by palm trees.
“Finding a new place to watch the sunset made me get to know the campus so much quicker,” she said. “And more intimately because of the conversations I had with people.”
For other student speakers, it wasn’t a California sunset that sparked friendships – it was a simple deck of cards.
Sarah Ryu, 18, talked about the summer before college, blissfully spent at the beach in Orange County, California, eating Taco Bell and playing a complex card game called Cambio, a rapid-fire match in which players try to memorize and swap high-value cards for low-value ones, screaming “Cambio” when they think they’ve won.
Ryu said making new friends at college went slowly until one evening in a common dormitory room, when she pulled out her cards and a few people joined her in a round of Cambio – which sparked a routine of nightly games, sometimes lasting until midnight.
“I had something to look forward to,” she said, realizing that life isn’t so much about who you’re with or where you are, but what you choose to do. “That’s like Cambio – it’s just about how you handle the cards you’re dealt.”
Arriving as a nervous prospective student on campus that first day, Louis also remembered he had a deck of cards – a last-minute purchase from his local CVS.
“What started as a simple card game turned into hours of conversation – about where we came from, what our parents sacrificed and what we were afraid of,” Louis said. “Some people talked about being the first in their family to leave home. Others talked about working jobs since high school just to make it here.”
Over cards, Louis said that something shifted.
“Instead of competing with each other, we were rooting for each other.”
The winning speaker of the night was first-year economics major Reese Balemian, whose speech was titled “Wave,” alluding to the many awkward waves he has given to people whom he had met before, but had forgotten their names. Balemian’s speech focused on the vulnerability and humility necessary to make friends in a new city, at a smaller school where fitting in can be just as hard as at larger universities.
“I chose Northeastern Oakland over schools with 40,000 students,” said Balemian, 18, from Middletown, Connecticut. “And I wondered if I made the wrong choice. But instead, I found something better. A campus where belonging isn’t something you’re given. It’s something you build, conversation by conversation, room by room, awkward wave by awkward wave.”
Balemian is no stranger to public speaking, having competed internationally during high school as part of the Distributive Business Club of America, or DECA, a business club that promotes leadership and entrepreneurship through role playing, mentorship and debate.
When Balemian’s name was announced, he was carried on stage by a friend and took pictures holding his oversized $200 check.
What was it like to win?
“It feels good, but I feel a little guilty,” he admitted, saying he knows his fellow speakers worked hard on their presentations, too.
But as the group picture was taken of all the speakers – which also included Sarya Farouk, 19, from Alexandria, Virginia, and Deanna Lee, 19, from Brooklyn, New York – it was clear from the high fives and jokes that the group had formed another set of friends.
For Louis, he has an answer for that security guard now that he’s well into his first year, and comfortable enough to give a speech about it.
“Yeah, I was scared,” he said. “But I was also ready.”