Admission & Financial Aid Quincy Smith '26

Hey Everyone! My name is Quincy Smith, and I am a sophomore here at Amherst College. I am from Providence, Rhode Island and attended Blackstone Academy Charter School in Pawtucket. I am beyond excited to share my experiences with you all on this blog, it is going to be so much fun! I am double majoring in Black Studies and Art History!

On campus, I am part of …

• DASAC (Dance And Step at Amherst College)
• E-board for the Black Student Union: Black Queer Group Senior Chair
• Artist and Writer for the literary magazine “The Indicator”

If you were on campus, you’d see me:

• Hanging in the MRC (Multicultural Resource Center) in the Keefe Campus Center
• Dancing in the O’Connor Commons
• Socializing at the Charles Drew parties!

Please feel free to email if you have any questions and want to talk more about Amherst, art, dance and anything else you can email me at qsmith25@amherst.edu.

Hey y'all! Today's blog post is going to be a list of my favorite places to dance on campus:  some conventional, some not-so-conventional locations that really help me feel the groove. I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember, so finding places to unleash my favorite form of creative expression is key to my Amherst experience.

Greenway D ( Nichols Biondi)
This is a yoga/dance studio in the basement of one of the Greenway dorms. It has a mirror; it’s small but perfectly sized for solo/small group practices; and you’ll find me there all the time during the school year.

O’Connor Commons (Underneath Charles Pratt)
This is a huge dance/gathering space under one of our freshman dorms. DASAC holds auditions there, and it's a perfect space for big dance practices (the air circulation is great).

Keefe Campus Center Balcony 
This is not a dance studio, but it's perfect for private dance sessions. I film a lot of my small voguing dance sessions on this balcony, as many people don't even know it's there lol.                                                                                                                         
Admission Center Intern Office
Not all students have special access to this space, but it's one of my favorite little spaces to practice some dances in. (Especially while I’m typing up blog posts, lol!!)
 

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share my experience with discovering what I wanted to study and how Amherst is one of the best places to truly explore all potential interests. When I entered Amherst, I was certain I was going to be an English major and an English major alone.  Leaving high school, that was what I was primarily interested in—the creative writing part especially—so I was sure I’d study poetry and eventually get a PhD in creative writing.

After taking “Introduction to Contemporary Art,” however, I developed a deep interest in Art History. The subject just pulled me in, and the class was a major highlight of my first semester here. After taking that class, I talked to my first-year academic advisor (who is chair of the Art and Art History department) and tried to learn more about the Art History major at Amherst. Amidst this discovery, I also was falling in love with Black Studies. As a Black creative, Black art and Black creativity in general is super important to me and always has been. After taking a Black Studies/Theater and Dance class with a Black queer professor, I knew that this combination of these two majors was the right fit for me academically. These subjects are what I’m most deeply interested in, and now that I’ve found them, I believe I have found my path.