When the prospective students ask what some of my favorite things
about Wellesley are, I always mention our amazing faculty and staff. They
really seem to love interacting with us, and consistently demonstrate a
willingness to help students.
Today was one big example of this. While I was getting breakfast,
a woman who works in the cafeteria (she doesn't know this, but I have decided
that she will be my imaginary aunt) stopped me and told me how nice I look
today. She was busy, so she didn't have time to give me the usual hug but I
might grab her later.
After class, I headed over to one of my professor's office hours.
I had been planning/dreading this visit for over a week – I really have a lot
of trouble with the class although it relates to my interests. By the way, it's
not uncommon for us Wellesley women to struggle in the things that we love the
most.
Anyway, I walk in his office and he says "Oh
boy." This indicated several things to me:
1. He knows exactly who I am, although this is our first
conversation.
2. He knows that I haven't been doing so great in his class.
Knowing those two things actually made me very glad to have come
to his office hours. Long story short, we talked about some of the concepts
that were giving me trouble, and he ultimately made me see the class in a
different light.
After that, I downright skipped over to my meeting at the Center
for Work and Service. The CWS counselors help current students as well as graduates
find jobs and volunteer opportunities. The counselor who I met with helped me
with my resume, and once I have it perfected, we can find an internship or
stipend for me!
Now I'm sitting in Lucy's (one of the admissions officers, who you
may meet) office typing up this post. Since I'm already enrolled at Wellesley,
it isn't technically her job to be nice to me, but she is anyway. 🙂
What I think that my Monday represents is this: You will meet all
sorts of awesome people at Wellesley, and many of them will not be students.
Our faculty and staff make it their business to care about us, and they have helped
many students in ways that their peers, however well-meaning, cannot. Not only
are the people who work at Wellesley are great at their jobs, but many of them
are just great people. Put simply: I love these guys!
Susan Reverby, an example of Wellesley College faculty awesomeness – you may have heard that she uncovered some atrocious research practices employed by the U.S. Public Health Service in the 1940s