#beExcellent Spotlight: Dali Ortiz
Aug 3, 2015 | General
Question: What made you choose Tulane?
Answer: It was a number of things. When I came on my visit, everybody was very welcoming. The staff was great. I knew I wanted to go to a school that would have a strong balance of athletics and academics. The academics was important so I could set myself up for a good future, and with track, I felt like I could be a part of the rebuilding process. That excited me. Plus the weather is pretty similar to Puerto Rico, so I really liked that.
Q: How would you describe your transition from high school to college?
A: The most difficult thing transition wise was the language. Even though I knew English, it wasn't perfect, and I wasn't very eloquent. I remember going to a Cell Bio class, and the professor was just up there lecturing, and I was like "what is this?" My freshman year was definitely the hardest, but it got better from there.
Q; How about your transition from Puerto Rico to New Orleans?
A: It's actually super similar because of the weather, except when it gets cold for no reason. There are no beaches, so I'm not used to that. There's also less greenery. There's greenery every in Puerto Rico.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Tulane?
A: I think my favorite thing is that the university is so committed to the city. It wants to help New Orleans be a prosperous, well educated, and progressive city. Community service has always been a big thing for me, since I was in high school, and Tulane is really big on community service, especially Tulane Athletics. I think that is my favorite thing; the passion that Tulane has to create a community within a community.
Q: What has been your best memory at Tulane so far?
A: I was at a women's basketball game against Southern Miss. There was like 5 seconds left, and we were down by 2, and Danielle Blagg hit a game winning 3 pointer. It was a buzzer beater, and I just went crazy. I loved it. In that moment I realized how loyal I was to the Tulane program. Even thought it wasn't my team, I felt like I was a part of it. It brought a lot of people together.
Q: Where is your favorite place to go in New Orleans?
A: You know I like to bike a lot. I like biking around the city and exploring. I bike to the fly, or to Audubon Park, or to get Sno-balls, or even downtown. So I would say that is what I enjoy most, exploring the city via my bike.
Q: What made you choose Communications/Public Relations as a major?
A: I'm a really good communicator. My mom and dad, and even my brother are very good at communicating with people. My dad was a public speaker, and he was part of an informal public relations team, for a baseball team in Puerto Rico. So I grew up seeing my father communicating with people really well. My mother always encouraged me to utilize my communication skills to get through communication skills. Right now we're in an era full of technology, and if you can't communicate, you're out of the picture. I enjoy it, and I'm good at it. For public relations, I like to build images; I'm really into politics. It's interesting to me how people build campaigns for politics, and companies, and then they alter those campaigns along the way.
Q: Do you have any specific goals for yourself this year?
A: I think Tulane's track team is going to have a huge boom. We have some awesome freshmen coming in, which I'm very excited about. My goal personally is to score nationally, at the national meet. I also want to have at least 5 teammates join me out there. As a team I want to finish top 3 in the conference
Q: If you were stuck on a deserted island, and you only had three things, what would they be?
A: My bike, a javelin so I could hunt, and a supply of cherry juice to help me recover, and because it tastes good.
Q: Any plans for after Tulane?
A: I really want to be part of a PR agency. A really powerful one, maybe in politics. My dream job would be to a PR agent for Nike athletes though.
Fun fact: I'm a really good musician. Percussion is my specialty. I can just bang on things, and it sounds good. I promise you.
