Hi everyone,
I hope all is well. All is well here at Wellesley. We’re expecting several guests on campus tomorrow for the 2012 Alumnae Achievement Awards ceremony. Mrs Susan McGee Bailey, Mrs Wendy Gillespie and Mrs Mary Jeanne Kreek will be rewarded for their noteworthy contribution to the fields of public policy and education, music and physics respectively. Although I must say that I did not know any of those women before I read about their achievements on the Wellesley website (which I am sure you have bookmarked on your computers, right?) I am always amazed, impressed and proud when I hear about former Wellesley students who have done or are doing great things.
Outside the United States, few people know about single-sex institutions and Wellesley College is not as famous as it is here. People ask “What’s Wellesley? Why Wellesley? What are you doing in a women’s college!? Are you a feminist? A lesbian?” when I carry around Wellesley paraphernalia in airports or I tell people where I go to school. Sometimes, I say “it’s like a female-only Harvard you know?” and people reply “Ohh really?” Or I (obviously hehe) say “Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Diane Sawyer, Nora Ephron, Desiree Rogers and many others went there” and they say “WOW! You must be very smart then! So you like politics?” and I smile. Like I’ve told you in previous posts, the Wellesley College alumnae network is one of the best I’ve ever heard of. As an African who is privileged to be educated abroad and as someone who went to a United World College it is important for me to give back and to make a difference. I want to be one of those women that makes people say “WOW!” when future generations of Wellesley women will talk about their school. Some of my classmates are already doing a lot – do you remember my post about Pangea Schools and IAMASTAR in November? My friend Maggie also works at the admissions office and today she hosted a talk about Athletes 4 Autism, a new initiative by the Autism Foundation. She is really passionate about it and she is doing everything she can to generate an interest here on campus. When I hear stories like that, I feel like volunteering and donating $1 to various causes at the supermarket is really little. In my senior year of high school, I started an activity to raise awareness and funds for the various causes that Medecins Sans Frontieres supports. I hope that it’s still going strong and I hope that I’ll someday be able to have one here at Wellesley. Until then, I have to keep up with my homework because I haven’t been doing such a great job over the past few days yet midterms are all coming up after the long weekend…………………………………….. *mini panic attack*
Picture credit: A4A website
Ok, I’ll leave you with the sweetest Valentine’s Day 2012 story (well after the one from The Vow, a movie I watched in Boston last night in a room full of lovey-dovey couples:)) Valentine’s Day brings memories of 100 year old man’s undying love for his wife was published on Nola.com yesterday. Enjoy!
Lori xx