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Warren Wilson College
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What Are You Doing Here
Remarks by Madeline Wadley
First Year Student Academic Convocation, Fall 2010
Welcome to college. Your parents are gone, you've moved into your dorm room, and you're currently experiencing the intoxicating freedom of "Camp Warren Wilson." Rest assured, the fun continues long after this week is over. You'll camp out on Dogwood, swim in the Swannanoa, visit the piglets, hike the trails, go to some parties...but you will be faced with a very important question: What, exactly, are you doing here?
College, for my family, was never a question. I always knew that I was going, I just had to decide where. I applied to eight different schools, but fell completely in love with Warren Wilson: the beautiful mountain campus, the small student body, the community of independent, progressive thinkers-all things that make this place wonderful and unique.
I came to Warren Wilson with the vague plan that I'd major in Anthropology/Sociology, join the Peace Corps, and change the world after I graduate. Two years later, I am a Global Studies major with concentrations in Appalachian Studies and Peace and Social Justice. I plan to study abroad in South Africa and go to graduate school for social work. I spend my time leading service trips, singing Appalachian ballads, and debating my friends about the usage of the word "redneck." As a college student, I have been in a constant state of discovery and change. I've surprised myself with new interests and my growing self-confidence within them. I used to be in denial that I was from the South, and now I have become passionate about studying this region and its culture. I actually enjoy reading my textbooks.
Before coming to Warren Wilson, I was never interested in Appalachian or Old Time music. Now, it has become a very important part of my life, and I have been able to incorporate it into my academics. Last spring, as an assignment for a class with Jeff Keith, I was given the opportunity to interview the writer and musician Sheila Kay Adams. I was terrified of speaking to the woman whose books I had been reading and music I had been listening to obsessively for the past year of my life. Turns out, I had no reason to be nervous, and I ended up speaking to Sheila for hours. I have since developed a friendship with her, and she is taking the time to tell me her stories and teach me the songs passed down through her family.
Get ready, here's my first piece of advice: Do the things that scare you. Allow yourself to change in the coming years. Reexamine your goals, and open your mind to knew ideas. That's what this place is for.
You are in charge of your education now, and it is up to you to challenge yourself. Nobody is going to wake you up in the morning and make you go to that eight o'clock statistics class. Nobody is going to force you to read those five chapters or write your ten-page papers. You will not like every class you take, and (though it's highly unlikely) you may not like every professor you have. But, in the wise words of my mother: "you are going to get out of this what you put into it."
By now, you have probably heard about the Triad once or twice. We're just a little proud of it here at Wilson. The thing is, you won't really understand the triad until you are living and breathing it, and striving to find balance within it. You will have to find a way to work, serve, learn and have a social life. It's possible, but doing it well is far from easy. At the end of my first day as a freshman, I remember thinking, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" I was thoroughly overwhelmed by the responsibility of my work crew and my classes and my service. Honestly, I still get overwhelmed, but I've learned to see how all the different aspects of the triad are intertwined, and I know I wouldn't be able to have this rich, varied learning experience without it. As a member of the Service-Learning Crew, my service and work are always connected, but I have also realized that academics and service are closely related.
For example, in Laura Vance's Intro to Sociology class my freshman year, we discussed the idea of ethnocentricity, which is evaluating other people and cultures through the standards of our own. I keep going back to this idea when I do service. We cannot go into a community or an organization and tell them what we think they need, based on our own opinions or biases. In order to effectively serve communities, we have to listen to the needs that they express.
Another example is my first year seminar with Kathryn Burleson. Our focus was food sources and food security. After reading about where our food comes from, we did service at a community garden. After discussing what it means to have secure food systems, we worked at a food bank, which helps those who are food insecure. We were able to apply what we were learning in the classroom to our service experience, and in turn our service experience gave us context for the things we were learning in class.
Here's my second piece of advice: Study things you're passionate about, do service that means something to you, do work that you enjoy, and find a way to make connections between all three. Also, don't forget to breathe.
We have been given the great privilege of higher education. Whether our tuition is being paid by trust fund or federal loan-we are fortunate to be here. The knowledge you are going to attain during the next four years comes with a tremendous responsibility: you have to do something with it. Personally, I want to take what I learn here and use it to create positive social change. I am still figuring out just how I will do that, but I am here for another two years. Who knows what I'll want to do by the time I graduate?
As a Junior, I'm still in love with Warren Wilson, but it is a love tempered by experience. I have realized that Warren Wilson is not a Utopia, and no, it is not an everlasting summer camp. It is, however, a place where we are given the extraordinary opportunity to learn, to create relationships, and to discover who exactly we want to be.
So, what are you doing here?