When Eden Suoth ’18 was in high school in New Hampshire, he imagined he would be attending college in the city — until the scholarships he received from UNH opened him up to more opportunities than he ever expected.
“I made the right financial choice and went to UNH,” Suoth recalls. “I quickly fell in love with it after I was able to explore the opportunities and the people and the resources that were here.”
A mathematics and philosophy major, Suoth is a member of myriad campus organizations including the Socratic Society, STEMbassadors and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers. He is also a resident assistant (RA), Hamel Scholar and Presidential Scholar.
“Part of my love of being an RA lies within that love of giving back to the community,” he says, adding, “one of the things that I realized from getting a lot of these scholarships is I need to give back to the community, one way or another.”
Q&A with Eden Suoth
Why did you choose to come to UNH?
I chose to come to UNH out of financial reasons, if I'm being honest. I had already paid my deposit at Northeastern University, but then realized afterwards that when my parents told me "yes we can pay for NEU," they could only afford it if they sold property that they owned in Indonesia and take money out of their 401k. It wasn't worth it, and I was thinking about my little brother who's only 4 years younger than me. I made the right financial choice and went to UNH. Now, I had my reservations about UNH; it was a state school, and it was my state school, meaning that there would be a lot of my graduating high school class here. I didn't want it to feel like 13th grade, but I went anyway. All my fears were dissuaded when I realized how big the school is, and how many opportunities are afforded to me by virtue of just being a student at UNH. I quickly fell in love with it after I was able to explore the opportunities and the people and the resources that were here.
Are you involved in any groups, clubs, or organizations? If so, which ones?
I'm involved in the Socratic Society, STEMbassadors, Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, Residential Life (I'm a second-year RA in Lord Hall), Indonesian Student Association, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Hamel Scholars.
What is your favorite class and why?
My past favorite class was PHIL 436: Social & Political Philosophy with Professor Nick Smith. My current favorite class is PHIL 525: Existentialism with Professor Matt Dowd. I love the first class because Nick was very effective in pitching "Philosophy" to me. I speak on behalf of many people when I say that class changed my life. It taught me to think differently, it sparked up all-night conversations with random people who would eventually become my closest friends, and it also taught me how to write (more like forced me to write, with 1000 word essays due every Sunday night at 11:59pm... and you can bet I got them in at 11:59pm every single Sunday). The current class I'm in, Existentialism, teaches me new ways to look at life. The inquiry to life itself I believe makes it that much more valuable. I can talk about this at length!
What has been your favorite academic experience at UNH so far? Please describe why.
All of my interactions with any of the faculty within the Philosophy department; we are a small department so we have the opportunity to be very tight-knit. I think that it's rare to know your professors as I do some of mine, and I think that my relationships with my professors in the Philosophy department very much help me in my other classes and interactions with other professors--they're people too!
