It's your voice. Let it be heard!
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Opinion
By Lauren Schueler
Guest columnist
Over the past four years at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College I've come to further appreciate just how unique the SMWC community and culture truly is. While I've always appreciated the difference in SMWC's education, it's the culture that I've come to appreciate and recognize as unique; a culture that encourages change, a culture that is run by student voice.
I came to SMWC in 2005 as a transfer student from Colorado. University of Northern Colorado was a co-ed state school with over 9,000 students. Picking out a familiar face in the crowd as you migrated to class was like trying to find Waldo in a sea of red … impossible. Some class sizes were all the size of SMWC's entire campus student body.
The students were unfriendly, realizing from day one that they would never recognize anyone they ever passed in the halls, let alone the bottom four floors of their own dorm. Teachers never knew a single name, unless it was their TA. In fact, teachers strictly referred to you as a number. I think I was 100 something.
This point was further illustrated for me when I went, during office hours, to ask my teacher about a question I'd missed on my biology test. Rather than the usual address you run across at SMWC, "Hi Lauren," her response to the bug-eyed freshman walking into her office was, "before we get started, what number are you?" My response, "Uh… I'm Lauren." Imagine my surprise that my teacher didn't recognize my face even though I'd sat in her class on a daily basis. I guess when she looked in my direction during class she was always looking at the other 140 students sitting in front of me. My bad for thinking I'd stood out.
After taking a year of this, I realized I needed a change. I needed a school that not only recognized my talents but also nurtured my weaknesses, embracing them and encouraging me to strengthen them. I needed a place that encouraged vocalization and recognized when someone was voicing an opinion, not a school where my voice would just be lost in the cacophony of the other 9,000 students voicing their own opinion. I wanted a school where my actions would not just be noticed, but would make an effective change. I found that place: SMWC.
Guest columnist
Over the past four years at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College I've come to further appreciate just how unique the SMWC community and culture truly is. While I've always appreciated the difference in SMWC's education, it's the culture that I've come to appreciate and recognize as unique; a culture that encourages change, a culture that is run by student voice.
I came to SMWC in 2005 as a transfer student from Colorado. University of Northern Colorado was a co-ed state school with over 9,000 students. Picking out a familiar face in the crowd as you migrated to class was like trying to find Waldo in a sea of red … impossible. Some class sizes were all the size of SMWC's entire campus student body.
The students were unfriendly, realizing from day one that they would never recognize anyone they ever passed in the halls, let alone the bottom four floors of their own dorm. Teachers never knew a single name, unless it was their TA. In fact, teachers strictly referred to you as a number. I think I was 100 something.
This point was further illustrated for me when I went, during office hours, to ask my teacher about a question I'd missed on my biology test. Rather than the usual address you run across at SMWC, "Hi Lauren," her response to the bug-eyed freshman walking into her office was, "before we get started, what number are you?" My response, "Uh… I'm Lauren." Imagine my surprise that my teacher didn't recognize my face even though I'd sat in her class on a daily basis. I guess when she looked in my direction during class she was always looking at the other 140 students sitting in front of me. My bad for thinking I'd stood out.
After taking a year of this, I realized I needed a change. I needed a school that not only recognized my talents but also nurtured my weaknesses, embracing them and encouraging me to strengthen them. I needed a place that encouraged vocalization and recognized when someone was voicing an opinion, not a school where my voice would just be lost in the cacophony of the other 9,000 students voicing their own opinion. I wanted a school where my actions would not just be noticed, but would make an effective change. I found that place: SMWC.
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