Point Park University’s Honors Program announced on Jan. 4 that Frederieke Rijlaarsdam is the new graduate assistant who will be working in the Honors Office.  

 Rijlaarsdam is from Leiden, Netherlands, where she obtained her Bachelor of Law degree. She has a lot of experience working in law already.  

“It was like, okay I need to calm down because otherwise I can be working as a lawyer in a year. I thought that sounds fun, but I also want to live,” Rijlaarsdam said. “Then I got the opportunity to combine soccer and go to university here.” 

 As of August 2024, Rijlaarsdam joined Point Park to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree while playing on the women’s soccer team. However, she wanted to do more. 

Rijlaarsdam decided to apply for the position of graduate assistant because she wanted an extra challenge on top of her graduate classes and the soccer program. The spring semester seemed the right time to take the position because, in the fall, there are a lot of things she must do for soccer, Rijlaarsdam said. 

“I always want like an extra challenge, and it seemed like a nice way to do something extra,” Rijlaarsdam said. “Also, it’s a chance to learn more people at the school who aren’t athletes because most of my friends are also from sports teams.” 

The job of the graduate assistant is to answer student questions, help plan student events and help the execution of the events, said Jessica McCort, director of the Honors Program.  

“The graduate assistant is really helpful in terms of the day to day running of the office, but also kind of behind the scenes,” said McCort. 

One task in particular that the graduate assistant performs is student referral cards. The referral cards are for when a professor recognizes a standout student in their class that is not already in the honors program, so the professor fills out a card and sends it to the Honors Office.  

After the Honors Office receives the card, they reach out to the student to see if they are interested in becoming a part of the Honors Program. The referral cards allow the Honors Program to reach out to students who would benefit from being a part of it.  

“We want the Honors Program to be seen as really inclusive, and if it is a space you want to be in, then we are going to welcome you into it,” said McCort.

Right now, Rijlaarsdam is in the process of learning about the program, that way students will be able to have their questions answered if McCort is not in the office. 

“I’m most excited for all the symposiums or all the presentations because I’ve always been curious to learn more things,”  Rijlaarsdam said. “It always gets me excited when people are passionate about something because I love to listen and learn new things.” 

Outside of being the graduate assistant, Rijlaarsdam works for a legal clinic in the Netherlands where she is a team leader. The clinic provides free legal advice for everyone that needs it.  

At Point Park, she is going to help the legal department reflect some implementation as well as take five graduate classes.  

“I’m very busy because I’m bored if I’m not,” said Rijlaarsdam.