Olivia Tarplin

Sitting in a journalism class in Eugene Lang College was not something Olivia Tarplin dreamed of when growing up.

“I desperately wanted to go to NYU,” she says, one foot on her chair, hugging her knee. “Probably ‘cause Alec Baldwin went there” she jokes. “I had all the paraphernalia; the mugs, caps.”

Olivia was forced to re-plot her plan when NYU turned down her application. A keen photographer, she initially considered studying photography at Parsons, but feared that an academic setting might spoil her hobby. Instead, she enrolled at Lang, and now a Sophomore, and thinks the decision was the right one.

“It had everything I liked about NYU, and none of the things I didn’t like,” she says. “I’m so happy I didn’t get in there,” and her eyes widen in an afterthought of what could have been.

Born in Jersey City, Olivia moved house four or five times throughout her childhood. She went from a small, private middle school to a big public high school – “the same one as Zach Braff” – she points out.

A self-proclaimed feminist, she is yet to declare her major, but says that majoring in global studies and minoring in gender studies is a possibility. It seems a logical choice, as she actively supports organizations including Planned Parenthood and Stand Up For Women. Olivia was involved in “Take Back The Night”, a march geared towards ending domestic violence.

She attributes her enthusiasm for activism to her mother, a “liberal atheist,” with whom she is very close. A few years ago they attended a Planned Parenthood rally together.

“My mom is the smartest person in the world,” Olivia says.

The two live together in Jersey where Olivia works as a waitress. “I’m dating my barista,” she says, grinning.

“I really didn’t want to live at home,” she admits, after her freshman year in dorms, but it didn’t make sense to rent a place with her mother living so close.

“My mum is newly single and I’m in college so its cool,” she says, explaining her parents recent split a year and a half ago. And it seems that Olivia has a way of making things work.

Aged seventeen she went to Barcelona for a month to learn Spanish, but upon arrival discovered the course had been cancelled. Despite being alone in a foreign country, Olivia decided to stay. She was by far the youngest, and one of few females in the hostel where she slept for the month. Befriending Australian and Dutch travelers who came and went, Olivia said it was one of the most important experiences of her life.

“After that, I feel like I can handle anything” she says, and who could have reason to doubt her?