Bucknell Student Government Executive President, Posse Scholar, Arts & Science Dean’s Student Advisory Committee member, Residential Advisor, Mauch Fellow for Lewisburg League of Women Voters, and much more; Bernadette Maramis ’24 did it all during her time at Bucknell.
This year, the senior class elected Maramis as The Bucknellian’s Outstanding Senior award winner. Maramis is a Political Science major, Philosophy minor, from Los Angeles, California.
Maramis found Bucknell through the Posse Foundation, which she originally looked into because of UC Berkeley, her dream school at the time. By the time she started the interview process, however, Posse announced they were ending their partnership with the university. Maramis adjusted, looking through other schools the LA office had partnerships with and was drawn to Bucknell for the small student-professor ratio and opportunity to build close relationships.
“The more I researched Bucknell, the more I fell in love with the university,” Maramis explained. “While the thought of being so far from my family terrified me, I firmly believed that Bucknell would serve as an excellent place for me to get out of my comfort zone and grow academically and as an individual.”
Once she arrived on campus, the relationships Maramis was able to build with Bucknell faculty and staff encouraged her to be involved in all of the opportunities Bucknell has to offer. Of these, Maramis stated that the most impactful was the year she spent as BSG Executive President. Though she described it as challenging, Maramis said that she would “never trade that experience for anything in the world.”
Through this experience, Maramis rethought what leadership meant to her and had to decide what kind of leader she wanted to be for the student body. She greatly enjoyed connecting with so many members of the Bucknell community and hearing their ideas for making Bucknell a better place.
Meeting quarterly with President Bravman, Dean Badal, and Provost Merman-Jozwiak, Maramis felt she was able to make tangible action plans and change to “ensure that the needs and concerns of all Bucknellians – especially those of underserved communities – were heard and addressed.”
One of Maramis’ favorite memories from college came out of her Executive Presidency: hosting A Night with the Presidents. In conversation with Bravman and the student body, she discussed topics including campus safety, diversity and inclusion, sustainability and future plans for the University. Maramis recalls fondly being able to have such a “meaningful and productive conversation” that could create change on campus.
“Ultimately,” she stated, “my time spent with Bucknell Student Government, especially through this position, made it clear to me that advocacy work is a great passion of mine, and I knew I wanted to continue after my time at Bucknell ended.”
Her time as president, as well as her acceptance into Phi Beta Kappa this semester, are Maramis’ proudest accomplishments from college. “These accomplishments bring a great sense of pride to me and my family, especially my parents,” Maramis stated. “They left the comforts of their home and sacrificed everything to pursue their version of the American dream and the possibility of providing a better life for my siblings and me, where all of our dreams and aspirations were attainable. My parents’ story motivated me to use my education, voice, and background as an Indonesian-American for good. These accomplishments reaffirmed that all of the efforts and sacrifices that my family and I had made up until then were worth it.”
Following graduation, Maramis will be working as a paralegal at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in their New York City office, where she will have the opportunity to work with experts and leaders in the legal field, helping assist lawyers throughout the litigation process. While coursework like Quantitative Methods and her time as Executive President prepared Maramis for future success, most importantly, Maramis stated that her “time at Bucknell has taught [her] the importance of community – and how important those pockets of community are to feeling whole and living a happy and meaningful life.”
Looking back on her four years here, Maramis offered this message for current and future students: “College is one of the rare opportunities in life where it is perfectly okay not to know everything—especially about yourself. Take advantage of all the opportunities that Bucknell has to offer…Take advantage of this time to find out things about yourself that you wouldn’t have known otherwise. It is through these involvements and experiences that you will find pockets of community that make Bucknell feel like home.”
