Marlie Doucet first saw Syracuse University in pictures, while sitting in her high school guidance office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. “I looked at the brochure and decided I wanted to apply,” says Marlie, a nutrition major. “I like to travel and meet new people. I was ready to go some place different.”

Born in Brooklyn to Haitian parents, Marlie moved to Haiti with her family at age nine. “I definitely experienced culture shock when we moved,” she says. “And then I experienced it again, when I came back to the United States. That’s when I realized how much the culture has affected me, how much of it I carry in me.” Marlie says she enjoys sharing her unique international perspective with her classmates, just as she enjoys learning from them, and understanding their perspectives. “You have to go and seek knowledge out,” she says. “That’s what the college experience is all about, that’s how it shapes who you are.”

Marlie became interested in the field of nutrition when a nutritionist came to speak at her high school. She likes the versatility of a nutrition degree. “You can do anything—diplomacy, policy, marketing, management, law.” Recognizing that malnutrition is a pressing issue in the Caribbean, as well as in Asia and Africa, she says she would like to work with public health organizations that address food insecurity issues worldwide. “I feel that many food organizations don’t really meet the needs of the people,” she says. “There’s that famous saying: ‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.’ These organizations aren’t teaching people to fish—and I want to do something about that.”

Meanwhile, Marlie is using her education to build a foundation for her future career plans. “The people in the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management have been very supportive,” she says. “As a student, I feel they really care about me and about where I’m going, and they are helping me get there.” At the same time, she knows her own hard work is the most important contributor to her success. “There’s a difference between schooling and education. Schooling is just a process, but education takes effort,” she says. “Education is what you make of it. You have to broaden your own horizons.”