Category: Campus Life
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Activist – it’s complicated
Recently I asked ten students to reflect on their relationship to the word activism. Here’s a glimpse into their thoughts. ACTIVIST – it’s complicated The word “activist” carries a lot of weight. When I was younger, it maybe looked more “clean cut.” Now I see how activism is, can be, should be, as part of…
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Dear Professor Pieper
Dear Professor Pieper, I know it’s been ten years since I was in your class and by now I can call you Chris, but in this instance Professor Pieper feels right. A decade ago, I was learning about the sociology of religion in your class while also enjoying spring semester of my senior year. Also…
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Fall 2020 Book Report
Those who know me personally know I love to read. I once created a Facebook album (back when those were a thing) just of photos of me reading. Early in the pandemic, I even recreated some classic book covers with whatever I could find around my house. So when we decided that one of OCE’s…
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Living Our Values
With Daily Work of Justice in full swing, The Active Citizens Conference fast approaching, and my weekly meetings with Aim 4 students, my mind and attention are pulled in many directions. Enter the trusty to-do list. Each time I cross off an item, I celebrate what has been accomplished and also why it matters. In…
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Ways of Welcoming
One of my favorite things about William & Mary is our enthusiasm for welcoming others in. I spent much of the last month welcoming students to our programs and offering directions to strangers ambling across campus with map in hand. I have seen students welcome their new peers through Convocation high fives and an offered…
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Finding the Meaning of Life
I asked Sonia Kinkhabwala ’21, recipient of the President’s Award for Community Service and member of the Aim 4 civic leadership program, to share her reflections on this moment in her William & Mary story. “We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.” – Thomas Merton…
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Celebrating Active Citizenship
Last week, the Office of Community Engagement hosted our annual celebration of active citizenship. We invite all students, faculty, staff, and community partners to come together in recognition of the important work of the past year. No blog post can encapsulate the many things to be celebrated, so I am just going to highlight four…
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The Difference Community Makes
A few years ago, I asked the students in the Aim 4 community leadership program to write down three ways they are different because of their community experiences and three ways community is different because they engaged. As I was searching for notes to use at this afternoon’s Aim 4 meeting, I found the students’…
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The Welcoming Semester
As I compiled the end of semester reports, I noticed a bit of a theme for the Office of Community Engagement this fall. We have been doing a lot of welcoming. First we welcomed five new staff members to our team. That’s three new community engagement fellows, our new budget manager, and a new coordinator…
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Sounds of the Semester
A few weeks ago, I asked the first year students in Aim 4 to tell me about the most memorable smells on-campus so far, and there were some interesting answers. But today I want to share with you some of my favorite sounds of this semester. Now a month into their William & Mary experience,…
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A Turn About The Garden
Today, I took a turn about the Sunken Garden, the large beautiful lawn in the middle of William & Mary’s old campus. It’s a habit I developed for when the rhythm of my day seems to be precariously tilting toward overwhelm. In those moments, I pull myself away from the inbox and take a lap.…
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Fan Girl
“Justin!” I yelped, jumping out my seat and making my way across the room. While my love of Justin Bieber has already been recorded in this blog, this time I was actually pulling off a fan girl moment for the one and only Justin Reid. Justin is one of the first upperclassmen I met at…
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You Know That Feeling…
You know that feeling of opening a book you’ve been dying to read. Or even better, the feeling of opening a book you’ve read at least ten times before, but you’re just as eager for the 11th. That moment of knowing that what you’re about to immerse yourself in will be at the same time…
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For the Sophomores
It’s W&M Orientation time which means a campus and staff focused on the incoming students—freshmen mostly—for the next few days. Freshman year, and particularly the early transition to college, deserves a lot of attention and is quite an incredible experience. A year of firsts, new friends and adventures, and lots to figure out. But this…
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I Grew Up Here. Can’t You Tell?
I’m proud of my grown-up accomplishments and the “real-world” life I’m building on this campus, but I am often reminded that at my core I am an alumna, proud to be raised by the Tribe.