Sienna Gonzalez, Bishop Noll class of 2014, had extra reason to celebrate when she graduated from Indiana University this spring. Out of 9,844 degrees given at the Bloomington commencement ceremony, Gonzalez was one of 41 graduates who earned a triple major; and her combination of animal behavior, east Asian languages and cultures with a specialization in Chinese and biology makes her the first triple major in all three of those departments.
Gonzalez, an East Chicago native, is currently interning at Lincoln Park Zoo as a behavioral enrichment intern in the primate house.
During her six-month internship, she will evaluate enrichment items used in the primate enclosures and create a database of how they benefit the animal. Following her internship, she has been offered a position at the Shedd Aquarium in the marine mammal department.
While a student at IU, Gonzalez completed an internship at the Bifengxia Panda Breeding Research Center in China. She also studied year four Chinese at Minzu University in Beijing, China. She began speaking Chinese at age 12 in the Bishop Noll Prep Academy, the former Bishop Noll middle school.
“My education at Noll impacted my ability to triple major. I began dual credit, ACP, and AP courses as a sophomore in high school and completed more than half a year in college credits, which allowed me to take more classes in my four years at IU. My college career began a week after graduating from Bishop Noll and every summer for the last four years I took courses that would allow me to complete three degrees.”
Gonzalez plans to become certified in animal nutrition and then attend veterinary school in 2020, where she will specialize in large mammalian surgeries.
“I am very grateful for the opportunities offered at Bishop Noll Institute and my instructors who encouraged me to continue my higher education. I am grateful for (Chinese teacher) Julie Niu who gave me the foundations of understanding and learning the Chinese language, because without her influence in my high school education I would have not been able to become one of the best students from my Chinese language department at Indiana University, with the most collegiate, national, and local certification and awards for proficiency.