Wilson Magazine Summer 2014

The Fortitude of

FREEDOM SUMMER

Patricia Vail ’63 Put Her Life and Liberty on the Line for Others

Giving Pets a Voice | You Can Always Tell a Freshman Reunion Recap | The “Extraordinary” Caileigh Oliver ’14 volume 87 | SUMMER 2014 | number 2

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volume 87 | SUMMER 2014 | number 2

FEATURES

08

08 Trees and Tomorrow

By Brian Speer Families from as close as Chambersburg and as far away as Africa came to celebrate Wilson’s 144th commencement exercises.

10 You Can Always Tell a Freshman

By Marissa Feldberg ’14 How does Elisabeth “Nan” Hudnut Clarkson’s bestselling 1947 guide to life at college compare to current students’ experience?

16 The Making of an Activist

By Amy Ensley On the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, the story of Patricia Vail ’63’s activism is told through her letters and recollections.

AROUND THE GREEN 24 Examining the Past Can Be Personal Mila Dragojevic ’97 receives a prestigious grant, fellowship for her research.

26 Interpreting Katrina Through the Rescue of Pets From English assignment to stage.

28 Making the Most Caileigh Oliver ’14, an “extraordinary” student, person.

30 Every Coach’s Dream Megan Schneck ’14 joins Wilson Athletics Hall of Fame.

ALUMNAE/I 36 Alumnae Association Annual AAWC report, AAWC president’s report, Reunion Weekend recap.

47 Class Notes 66 In Memoriam

DEPARTMENTS 02 Letter from the Editor 16

10

03 Wilson News Demolition begins on the annex as part of John Stewart Memorial Library renovation, charter hearing held by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, students honored at Wilson’s annual research day, seven students present to the Pennsylvania Academy of Science.

32 President’s Forum: Defining Value

By President Barbara K. Mistick

34 Viewpoint

By Julia Solleveld Osborne ’64 ’Firmly Pledged’ to Wilson Today 35 From the Archives

By Leigh Rupinski The story behind a panorama prank is revealed.

68 Last Word: The Better Zombies of Our Nature The Billboard’s editor-in-chief Lesley Eichelberger juggled school and her job while putting out the college newspaper.

ON THE COVER FBI agents investigate a station wagon found abandoned on a logging road in rural Mississippi after the Ku Klux Klan ambushed three civil rights activists riding in it.

The killing of the three men cast a pall over Freedom Summer.

STAFF Ben Ford Managing Editor Brian Speer Executive Editor Kendra Tidd Design Cathy Mentzer College Editor Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 Class Notes Coordinator Contributing Writers Samantha Burmeister, Marissa Feldberg ’14, Ben Ford, Dianna C. Heim, Cathy Mentzer, Leigh Rupinski, Brian Speer, Gina Gallucci-White Contributing Photographers James Butts, Matthew Lester, Cathy Mentzer, Brian Speer, Bob Stoler, Kendra Tidd, David Yates

Barbara K. Mistick, President Camilla Rawleigh, Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Brian Speer, Vice President for Marketing and Communications

WILSON MAGAZINE COMMITTEE Mary Cramer ’91, Alumnae Association President Amy Ensley, Director of the Hankey Center Marybeth Famulare, Director of Alumnae/i Relations Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations and College Editor

Camilla Rawleigh, Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Brian Speer, Vice President for Marketing and Communications

Lisbeth Sheppard Luka ’69, Alumnae Association Courtney D. Wolfe ’12, Class Notes Coordinator Wilson Magazine is published quarterly by the Office of Marketing and Communications and the Alumnae Association of Wilson College.

Send address changes to: Wilson College Alumnae/i Relations, 1015 Philadelphia Ave., Chambersburg, Pa. 17201-1285, 717-262-2010 or mag@wilson.edu.

Opinions expressed are those of the contributors or the editor and do not represent the official positions of Wilson College or the Alumnae Association of Wilson College.

CONTACT US: Wilson Magazine mag@wilson.edu 717-262-2607 www.wilson.edu/magazine Alumnae Association aawc@wilson.edu 717-262-2010 www.wilson.edu/aawc The Wilson Fund advancement@wilson.edu 717-262-2010 www.wilson.edu/give

FPO

editor A

PHOTO BY JAMES BUTTS

ADMINISTRATION

— letter from the —

s I sat in the Alumnae Chapel, I heard family and friends describe how Carol A. Tschop ’72 found a home at Wilson College when she was a student. On May 9, after an extended illness, Tschop returned to her beloved Wilson home for the last time with a memorial service celebrating her life in the Alumnae Chapel.

“This was a woman—the phrase ’courage under pressure’ and ’grace under pressure’ definitely applied,” said former Wilson President Mary-Linda Merriam Armacost. “She was colorful and brought joy, real joy, into the lives of people.”

As a student, Tschop performed with Wilson’s Ten-Tones vocal group, acted in school plays and excelled academically for most of her college days after struggling for the first time in her life when she was a freshman.

In the late 1970s, Tschop played an important role in the effort to save Wilson from closing. “In my view, Carol was very much the center of it all,” said former Wilson President Donald F. Bletz. Tschop later joined the College as director of development and then vice president of development.

I loved hearing the stories about her. As I heard her family and friends talk about her, I thought Tschop was a Renaissance woman. She established organizations to improve the quality of care for the elderly while also active with the Chambersburg Community Theatre and the Cumberland Valley School of Music. Even with a daunting schedule, family members described her as a doting daughter, sister and aunt.

She also was a member of this magazine’s committee. Her illness had already limited her activities when I joined Wilson Magazine last summer. As others described her, I wished I had known her.

Our cover story is a feature on Patricia Vail ’63, who joined thousands of brave volunteers that took part in Freedom Summer in 1964 working for civil rights for African Americans in the segregated South. The story, written by Amy Ensley, captures the very real danger Vail and others faced 50 years ago in Mississippi in the wake of the murders of three of their fellow activists.

The world is a better place for having Vail and Tschop in it. Wilson can take pride in producing women such as these.

Ben Ford Managing Editor

PHOTO BY BRIAN SPEER

WILSON NEWS

Demolition of the former annex of the John Stewart Memorial Library was completed in July.

STEWART LIBRARY PROJECT

MOVES FORWARD

T

he John Stewart Memorial Library renovation is on track for construction to begin in August with completion by August 2015, said Brian Ecker, Wilson vice president for finance and administration.

The Board of Trustees voted in May to proceed with the $12 million project, which will be overseen by the same general contractor—R.S. Mowery and Sons of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania—that built the Harry R. Brooks Complex for Science, Mathematics and Technology.

In April, a Connecticut company specializing in library relocation services moved the book collection to a nearby storage facility. Preparations then began for demolition of the 1961 library annex, including asbestos abatement. That work was completed in early June, just as the College received approval of the library design from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Bureau for Historic Preservation. PHMC said the new annex—a contemporary learning commons that will include academic support, information technology services, writing labs, “smart” classrooms, commuter lounge and bookstore—will “have no adverse effect” on the original, 1924 Stewart library building, which is part of the Wilson College Historic District.

Demolition of the old annex began July 1. Mowery released construction documents for subcontractors to bid through July, which will be followed by the review of bids and award of contracts. “We’re thinking we’d be able to start the construction projects around mid-August,” Ecker said.

Fundraising for the library has reached more than 80 percent of its $12 million goal. By mid-June, the project raised $10.2 million from 652 donors, including a record-shattering Reunion gift of $101,964 from the Class of 1964, which will be used to name a “smart” classroom in the new learning commons area of the library.

The Office of Institutional Advancement continues work toward reaching the project goal. “We are enormously thankful to the forward-thinking donors who answered the call for support for the John Stewart Memorial Library project,” said Camilla Rawleigh, Wilson’s vice president for institutional advancement.

“In addition to the Class of 1964’s generous gift, five other reunion classes stepped up and designated their reunion gifts to the library as well. By the time Reunion 2015 rolls around, construction will be moving toward completion.” —Cathy Mentzer

summer 2014 03

WILSON NEWS COLLEGE, OPPONENTS TESTIFY ON CHARTER AT

PA. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION HEARING Representatives of the College and four alumnae testified June 16 at a Pennsylvania Department of Education informational hearing on Wilson’s revised charter application, but a decision could take several more months. PDE Postsecondary and Higher Education Deputy Secretary Jill Hans gave the College and opponents of its charter application until Aug. 1 to submit post-hearing statements. PDE has not given any indication as to when a final decision will be made.

young women in literature, science and the arts.” In 1970, the language was changed to: “The object and purpose of said corporation are hereby declared to be, to promote the education of both women and men in literature, science and the arts.” The 1993 charter used broad language to describe the corporate status of the College: “The corporation is incorporated exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes.”

About 100 people attended the informational hearing, held at PDE’s Harrisburg headquarters, including Wilson faculty, staff, Trustees and administrators who support the College and a group of about 60 alumnae and friends who oppose coeducation at Wilson.

While the 1993 charter rendered the 1970 version null and void—as Gretchen Van Ness ’80 noted in her opposition to the 2013 charter change—it did not reverse the “substantial corporate” changes made in 1970, according to Wilson legal counsel Elizabeth A. Maguschak of Harrisburg law firm McNees, Wallace and Nurick.

The hearing covered changes to Wilson’s charter—also referred to as articles of incorporation—approved by the Board of Trustees by a vote of 26-1-1 in spring 2013 and subsequently filed with PDE for its approval. Opponents claimed the College made a “substantial corporate” change—coeducation in its undergraduate residential college—and had proceeded before receiving PDE approval. Wilson officials asserted the existing 1993 charter did not restrict the College on the issue and the substantive charter change had occurred in 1970, when the charter was revised and approved by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and PDE. Wilson’s original charter stated: “The object and purpose of said corporation are hereby declared to be to promote the education of

The current charter application amendments are meant only “to more clearly and without any room for question move the College forward,” Maguschak said.

Forty people who wrote letters to PDE objecting to the latest charter change were represented at the hearing by four “limited participants”: Van Ness, Melissa Behm ’76, Kendal Hopkins ’80 and Paula Tishok ’71. The College was represented by Maguschak, President Barbara K. Mistick, Board of Trustees member and former chair John Gibb and Leslie Durgin ’69, also a Trustee and chair the Commission on Shaping the Future of Wilson College. —CM

COLLEGE APPOINTS HEIL NEW VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Wilson named Elissa Heil the College’s new vice president for academic affairs/ dean of the faculty, replacing Mary Hendrickson, who moved into a new role at the end of June. Heil comes to Wilson from the University of the Ozarks in Arkansas, where she served as associate academic dean since 2011 and assistant academic dean for the previous three years.

Like Wilson, the University of the Ozarks—where Heil served since 1992—is a small, liberal arts, Presbyterian-affiliated institution with professional programs. Heil held a number of positions with increasing responsibility there, including serving as coordinator of the study-abroad program for seven years and chair of the humanities and fine arts division on two separate occasions. She was actively involved in a number of leadership initiatives at the Ozarks, including the university’s Academic Center for Excellence, which she established.

04 wilson magazine

As a professor of English and Spanish at the Ozarks, Heil earned several teaching awards from the university and was nominated as Arkansas Professor of the Year. She has extensive experience in the areas of global studies, freshman seminar and study abroad, as well as in the development of curricula.

Heil is familiar with Wilson and the area, having graduated from Dickinson College in nearby Carlisle with a bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish. She has a Master of Philosophy and doctorate in comparative literature, both from New York University.

Henderson, who formerly was an associate professor of political science, will return to teaching in such areas as global studies, as well as sections of the first-year seminar. She also will be involved in administrative projects, including accreditation reports and special projects as designated by the president of the College. —CM

PHOTO BY DAVID YATES

From left, professor Rebecca Smith, Disert Honors Scholarship winner Kotchaphorn Mangkalaphiban ’15, and professor Laura Altfeld pose after the ceremony.

Laci Cox ’14 presents her project at Wilson’s annual Student Research Day.

WILSON STUDENTS PRESENT RESEARCH, RECEIVE ACADEMIC AWARDS Wilson’s annual Student Research Day and academic awards, held on the same day, gave students an opportunity to display their academic achievements and for the campus community to celebrate them.

Held May 2 in the Harry R. Brooks Complex for Science, Mathematics and Technology and Warfield Hall, Student Research Day featured 23 seniors presenting the results of their undergraduate research projects. Another18 students participated in a poster session. That evening, students were recognized during the annual academic awards presentation in Brooks Complex.

Research presentations covered a range of topics from across multiple disciplines, from “Habitat Effects on Captive Elephant Reproduction,” to “Quantification of Estradiol in Bovine Milk from Cattle Fed Diets Supplemented with Salvia Hispanica and Linum Usitatissimum,” to “Effects of Holy Basil, St. John’s Wort and German Chamomile on Fecal Corticosterone Levels in a Rat Model,” to “Saving Cemeteries with Helping Hands” and “X-men: Lessons of Difference, Disability and Inclusivity.”

Student Research Day concluded with the presentation from the 2013-14 Disert Scholar. Morgan Shadle ’14, who graduated in May with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and religion studies, presented “Effect of Autonomy, Relatedness and Competence during Community Service on Prosociality.” Specifically, she investigated the extent to which community service can fulfill a student’s need for free choice, social connections and mastery of service activities,

and examined how the fulfillment of those needs impacts her or his helpfulness and empathy.

In the evening, academic awards were presented, as well as the Donald F. Bletz Awards for Teaching Excellence. This year’s Bletz award winners were: • Senior Faculty Award—George Bates, associate professor of veterinary medical technology • Junior Faculty Award—Jonathan “J.Z.” Long, assistant professor of communications • Adjunct Faculty Award—Richard Shoap, adjunct instructor of theater Kotchaphorn Mangkalaphiban ’15 received the Margaret Criswell Disert Honors Scholarship for her research proposal. She will investigate the effects of compounds in three medicinal plants on the inflammatory pathway of mouse immune cells.

Caileigh Oliver ’14 received the Catherine Herr Langdon Award, given to a senior who has demonstrated academic excellence as well as given encouragement and guidance to fellow students. Caitlyn Minelli ’15 received the Margaret Strode Haines Award, which goes to a student with “outstanding qualities of scholarship, interest in the humanities and strength of mind, body and spirit.”

See page 6 for a complete list of award winners. —CM

summer 2014 05

ACADEMIC AWARD

WINNERS PHOTO BY DAVID YATES

• James Applegate Award—Gillian Barth, Eliza Park and Johanna Romain • Lucy Bremmer Global Citizenship Award—Krista Dewald • Mary-Eleanor Maule Travel Grant—Krista Dewald • Alice Martin Brumbaugh Award in Sociology— Jessika Dockery

From left, professor Freya Burnett, professor Ann O’Shallie and Marissa Koske-Blyler ’15 at Wilson’s annual Student Research Day.

• CRC Press General Chemistry Achievement Award— Abby Burkhart • Marel Harlow Cheng Memorial Prize—Neena Gurung • Regina Shaputnic Cuomo Mathematics Award— Amanda Clark

• Josef Michael Kellinger Foreign Language Award— Grettel Ocampo-Conejo • Catherine Herr Langdon Award—Caileigh Oliver

• Estep-Lawson Memorial Prize—Lauren Hampton

• Alta Lindsay McElwain Prize—Renee Bouch

• Margaret Criswell Disert Honors Scholarship— Kotchaphorn Mangkalaphiban

• Robert Shannon McElwain Prize—Anna Harutyunyan • Helen Adams Nutting History Prize—Ashlee Yealey

• Mildred Franklin Prize—Hannah Bishop

• Organic Chemistry Award—Lindsey Sutton

• Margaret Strode Haines Award—Caitlyn Minelli • Joanne Harrison Hopkins Literary Achievement Award— Caitlyn Minelli and Jennifer Doyle Dodds

• Outstanding Peer Teacher Award—Marissa Kosko-Blyler • Nicky Hoffman Reich Award—Victoria Alterio

• Davison Greenawalt Grove Award—Cortney Roper

• Helga Rist Prize—Netha Kane and Katelyn Wingerd

• Dorle Haas Memorial Prize—Morgan Shadle

• John D. Rose Award in Environmental Studies— Maria Thomke, Kisha Pradhan and Jessica Meck

• Edward and Sarah Anderson Psychology Prize— Morgan Shadle

• William and Ivy Saylor Prize—Patrick Fox

• Gloria Randle Scott-Frances Richards Hesselbein Prize— Amanda Skelton

• Grace Tyson Schlichter Award in Communications— Marissa Feldberg • Mary Beers Sheppard Prize—Mallory Sunderland • William P. Van Looy Business Prize—Katherine Snyder, Robert Washinko Jr. and Anush Petrosyan • E. Grace White Prize—Jyotsna Dhakal

PHOTO BY DAVID YATES

• E. Grace White Summer Scholarship—Martina Mellot and Allison Shastay

From left, Jessica Meck ’15, Maria Thomke ’15, professor Laura Altfeld and Kisha Pradhan ’15 stand together at Wilson’s annual Student Research Day.

06 wilson magazine

• Wilson College Education Award—Heidi Myers won the elementary award and Alecha Cauffman-Sanbower received the secondary award • Wilson Equestrienne Award—Carly Nelson and Alexandra Veach-Walther • Carolyn Zeleny Prize—Lilia George • Wilson College Scholar Athletes—Brittney Poff, Nicole Melanson, Megan Schneck, Janelle Wills and Katelyn Wingerd

PHOTO BY BOB STOLER

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

WILSON NEWS

TREES FOR TOMORROW

In just 90 minutes, nearly 160 volunteers—including 61 from the College—fanned out across McKee Green and planted 300 trees and shrubs. The April 26 event marked the kickoff of "Trees for Tomorrow," a joint initiative of the Franklin County Commissioners and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to plant 150,000 new trees across the county. At Wilson, the project added to the riparian buffer along the Conococheague Creek. Funding was provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.

SENIORS PRESENT RESEARCH AT

PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

PHOTOS BY DAVID YATES

Seven Wilson College students presented the results of their research, with two winning top honors for oral presentations, at the 90th annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science March 21 to 23 at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove.

The students were Jyotsna Dhakal ’14 of Nepal; Monica Drummond ’14 of Wilmington, Delaware; Emma Echanis ’14 of Selbyville, Delaware; Jeaneva Gagne ’14 of Frederick, Maryland; Cortney S. Roper ’14 of Greencastle, Pennsylvania; Meghan Stine ’16 of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania; and Janelle Wills ’14 of Dysart, Pennsylvania.

Dhakal, a biology major, placed first in the oral presentation category for her research project, “Determining the Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Vaccine-Induced Immune Response in Guinea Pigs." Meghan Stine, also a biology major, received second place for her presentation, “Habitat Effects on Captive Elephant Reproduction: A Study of Size and Quality of Captive Elephant Habitats for both Asian and African Elephants.” PAS also awarded Stine an outstanding research grant.

From top, Jyotsna Dhakal ’14 and Meghan Stine ’16 presented at the Pennsylvania Academy of Science.

PAS judged oral presentations and posters, and provided monetary awards for the top three places in each category. Oral presentations were assessed in categories for scientific merit—ranging from experimental methodologies to analysis of results—and presentation qualities, including visual impact and fielding of questions. The overall score reflected all the subcategories. —CM

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Trees and Tomo

Wilson’s Commenc

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F

amilies from as close as Chambersburg and as far away as Ghana and Nepal gathered on

the green for the Wilson’s 144th commencement exercises on May 18. A picture-perfect day with blue skies and lush green trees greeted the 147 bachelor’s, graduate and associate degree recipients, and their families and friends as the College’s year-long theme of sustainability once again took center stage.

Senior class speaker Tonya Grissinger ’14 kicked things off by comparing graduates’ time at Wilson to the life of a tree—from wayward seed to grown tree

morrow

branching out. She reminded them that “as we leave, let us never forget that, no matter where we go, we can trace our roots back to Wilson.”

Throughout Grissinger’s address, honorary degree recipient Margaret D. Lowman, a pioneer in the science of tree canopy ecology and global champion of forest

cement Continues Sustainability Theme

conservation, beamed at the metaphor. Before addressing the graduates herself, the renowned author and ecologist turned to Grissinger and said, “Tonya, if you want a job, come with me, cause, oh my gosh, you have given my speech. We can take the day off.”

Lowman spoke about developing her passion for trees and science as a child and then interweaving her work and her life as a single mother. Calling the graduates part of the “solutions generation,” she offered what she referred to as “sustainable advice from a tree,” including: stand tall and proud; go out on a limb occasionally; remember your roots; enjoy the view; provide sanctuary for others; and grow!

Also during the ceremony, former board chair and Trustee Emerita Cynthia Dimmick Grove ’63 presented Jane Everhart Murray ’67 for the conferring of the designation of trustee emerita and President Barbara K. Mistick recognized retiring Professor of Spanish José

PHOTOS BY BOB STOLER

Hernán Córdova for his 19 years of service. —Brian Speer From left, top row: The daisy chain is held high; graduation ceremony begins; new graduates Samantha Walker, Vanessa Whitfield and Rachael Wilson-McCall smile brightly; former Wilson Trustee Jane Everhart Murray ’67, left, was honored at commencement by Trustee Emerita Cynthia Dimmick Grove ’63; students gather for goodbyes following the ceremony; Margaret “Meg” Lowman receives her honorary degree hood; President Mistick celebrates with Jocelyn Kirchner and her daughter; from the Pittsburgh Penguins to pets, many graduates wear personalized mortar boards.

You Can A W

hen they were Wilson seniors, Elisabeth “Nan” Hudnut Clarkson ’47 and Marjorie Bauernschmidt Barnhart ’47 wrote and illustrated the first half of You Can Always Tell a Freshman, but they never expected a publisher would accept the book. “Marge and I just wrote the book during midnight hours in the dorm rooms,” Clarkson said. “While some of my friends had to be in bed by 11 p.m., we were lofty seniors so we could make our own fun during that time. Marge and I wrote … during these midnight sessions.”

To their surprise, New York City Publisher E.P. Dutton accepted the book and published it in 1947. “We dropped the book off on chief editor Sherman Baker’s desk,” Clarkson said.

“Then we waited and waited and three weeks later, they called us and told us they had accepted it. We were delighted and it was wonderful for Wilson College.”

lways Tell

A Freshman

Sage Advice from Elisabeth "Nan" Hudnut Clarkson’s Bestselling Guide Still Rings True

By Marissa Feldberg ’14 Illustrations by Marjorie Bauernschmidt Barnhart ’47

summer 2014 11

In its first year of publication, You Can Always Tell a Freshman sold more copies than the Winnie the Pooh series. You Can Always Tell a Freshman was also featured on the front cover of the New York Times.

Clarkson and Barnhart wrote the book as a guide for female students entering women-only colleges, Clarkson said. Instead of focusing on the more academic aspects of college life, the book focuses on the social aspects of attending a women’s college.

“We knew there wasn’t any such thing like the book we wrote,” Clarkson said. “Of course, many of the colleges put out books about what courses to take, but nothing like what we had done. There were plenty of women’s colleges in that day, and we wanted to do it for a student entering Wilson or another women’s college.”

The humorous and practical You Can Always Tell a Freshman retains some relevance for today’s Wilson students. Current Wilson students continue to face the same triumphs and challenges and unique-to-Wilson experiences Clarkson and Barnhart wrote about so many years ago.

Those First-Day Jitters The first chapter, “Getting Off to the Right Start,” discussed the unavoidable terror that often strikes incoming college freshmen. “It is only natural that you should be a little wide-eyed about the whole thing,” Clarkson wrote in the book.

Ghada Tafesh ’16, an international Wilson student, and Katelyn Wingerd ’16 both felt trepidation when they entered the college as well.

“First I was like, ’What did I get myself into? I think I chose the wrong school!’” Tafesh said.

Wingerd was also very worried about her transition to college life.

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“At first I was like, ’How do you juggle everything in just a 24-hour day?’” Wingerd said.

Clarkson devoted an entire section of her book to time management, including a dated reference to a “smoking room,” but captured the timelessness of those moments when exams and frequent deadlines begin to affect one’s sanity. “It was a week or so after Thanksgiving when Zeke, one of my favorite freshmen, stalked into the dormitory’s smoking room with the air of one of the freshly doomed,” Clarkson wrote. “You could tell that she had been pigeonholed in the library all evening, wrestling with the wisdom of the ages. Her clothes had that attractive lived-in look. Her hair, after much tearing, defied all laws of gravity. Her eyes had a wild, unhealthy glitter.

Here, I thought to myself, is a desperate person, and I edged gracefully toward the door, knocking over ashtrays left and right.”

Wilson students of all generations can identify with the challenges of learning to manage their schedules.

You could tell that she had been pigeonholed in the library all evening, wrestling with the wisdom of the ages.

Her clothes had that attractive lived-in look.

Her hair, after much tearing, defied all laws of gravity.”

— ELIZABETH “NAN” HUDNUT CLARKSON ’47

Lesley Eichelberger, an adult degree program student, works full time, earns high marks in her classes, serves as editor-in-chief of the Billboard, raises her 12-year-old daughter and still makes time for a few laughs occasionally. “I’ve learned to block off different sections of time for different tasks, either my daughter or school or work,” she said. “It’s when I don’t do that I get frantic.”

Tafesh said it took her a year to learn how to manage her time, but now she has it down to a science. “At first I was focused on making friends and doing well in my classes,” she said. “I felt bad when I had to turn friends down. Now I know that I need to work hard to succeed, but that once in a while, I also deserve a break.”

Christiana Bredbenner ’16 realized she would need to better manage her time after she learned Wilson would be no cakewalk. “I had terrible study habits in high school,” she said. “They got a lot better here. My high school classes were really easy. I never even had to study until my senior year.

I got a 50 percent on my first veterinary medical technician exam here. That was a huge wake-up call. Now I make “to-do lists, schedule times to study, write down my obligations on a mirror, and learned not to procrastinate.”

Professors as People?

In an interview, Clarkson said the professor-student relationship was very different in her era at Wilson and when she wrote You Can Always Tell a Freshman. “They were much more formal,” she said. “Professors used to live in the college dorms and they would

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sit at the heads of the tables at every meal. There were, of course, professors that we revered and professors that we had crushes on.”

But in some ways, the types of professors Clarkson described in her book can still be found at Wilson today. In her book, Clarkson dubbed one type of professor as “Mr. Dynamite.” “’Mr. Dynamite’ is the professor who will pick holes in your conservative thought patterns,” she wrote. “He will expose fallacies in many a time-honored belief. His critical brilliance will make it hard for you to remember that his is not the Last Word.”

“Dr. Larry Shillock is today’s ’Mr. Dynamite,’” Tafesh said. “He teaches an English novel class and he is so passionate. He lives the novel and he makes us live it with him.”

Eichelberger had a similar experience with Shillock.

“It was my first introduction to feminism and his passion throughout the lecture would stay with me during the rest of the day,” she said. “I felt inspired. He always wrote notes on my papers which allowed me to take my writing to a much higher level.”

‘The Moonlight and Butterflies Department’ In her chapter on dating, “The Moonlight and Butterflies Department,” Clarkson gave advice on dating, even when at a women’s-only college. “You who choose a women’s college are apt to be pitied as ones who are about to take a four-year vacation from the bright lights and all things masculine,” she wrote. “Needless to say this is a misconception. A women’s college is not a graveyard, so if you are buried there you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Women could invite men to visit for weekends, reserving a room for them. The school would also set up a “December Prom” for the

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students to invite men for dates. While, regrettably to some, the practice does not occur at Wilson today, Shoshana Rudski ’15 said that she and her friends sometimes travel to nearby colleges for the chance to mingle with college-age men.

“Sometimes I get a little sad about attending a college with three guys,” said Rudski, a transfer student from Muhlenberg College.

“You can’t just line them up and pick one! I do miss how at Muhlenberg there were always guys holding doors for me.”

In her book, Clarkson wrote a comprehensive list of behaviors for students to avoid: “don’t be a sponger (mooch), don’t be a miser, don’t hang around the upperclassmen as a freshmen, don’t forget to bathe daily and keep the room clean, don’t make lots of noise or make yourself the center of every situation, don’t brag, don’t be a Debbie Downer, be considerate, don’t make your social circle conform to your patterns and habits, and don’t be an overly sentimental, emotional wreck.”

Some students could still use that advice. “One of my close friends is really cheap, it is amazing actually. I just roll my eyes and let it go,” said one current student who asked not to be named. “I have to stop sometimes and just breathe. Another person I knew borrowed things from my room and another had to borrow all of my notes.

Now I don’t give out my notes to anyone.”

In her day, Clarkson found many of her Wilson classmates set up underground businesses to earn extra money. She mentioned one student who created a “breakfast in bed scheme which exceeded any of her dreams in its popularity. Every Sunday [she] served breakfast in bed to about fifty girls.” In the book, she described other “selfmade” business ideas for college students, like “little beauty salons,” or cleaning services for professors or faculty in need of a few helping hands.

Student entrepreneurs continue to find creative ways to raise cash. Bredbenner said she has created commissioned art work for local businesses. Rudski set up her own business designing

So many students and professors have surpassed my expectations in so many different ways.”

— KATELYN WINGERD ’16

websites for equine businesses and journalists.

Tafesh makes bracelets that she hopes to sell to students in the near future.

What Are You Here For? In You Can Always Tell a Freshman, Clarkson advised that young women should enter college to gain knowledge from disciplined experts, obtain a focused education, gain career skills, meet friends and valuable connections, and form memories and experiences to last a lifetime.

Attending Wilson has allowed Rudski to form friendships, focus on her riding and extracurricular interests, take classes that suit her pragmatic-minded career interests, and just feel at home.

Wingerd agreed. “So many students and professors have surpassed my expectations in so many different ways,” she said.

“I used to have no ambition. Now I am very ambitious,” Eichelberger said. “There was a time when I was happy to be a waitress. Since finding Wilson I have accomplished so much—I have represented the school in a national media conference, served as editor of the school newspaper and applied for jobs I would not have been prepared for in the past.” W

summer 2014 15

The Making of a T

he day after three civil rights activists disappeared in Mississippi,

Patricia Vail ’63 wrote her parents from Oxford, Ohio, expressing her fears as she prepared to join other activists in the deeply racist state.

“We are not safe,” Vail, then 22, wrote June 22, 1964, in a letter to her parents and now part of a collection at the C. Elizabeth Boyd ’33 Archives. “Like everyone else involved, I realize that I could be killed this summer.

I’ve known this all along. … In the end I decided that this is a cause that I’m willing to die for.”

The Mississippi Summer Project, known as Freedom Summer, was organized by a coalition of civil rights organizations that brought young, idealistic college-age students to Mississippi to register black voters and set up Freedom Schools to teach

Patricia Vail ’63 Put Her Life and Liberty on the Line for Others

By Amy Ensley

young children about black history and good citizenship. Organizers hoped that Northern white students working for civil rights would draw national attention to the extreme brutality and oppression suffered by the black community in Mississippi.

summer 2014 17

Images of 1963: investigators at the scene, left, of the car used by the three missing civil rights activists; young voting rights activists.

During the Project’s first week, three civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, disappeared. Schwerner, at 24, was an experienced organizer. Chaney, 21, was a Freedom Rider from Meridian, Mississippi, and Goodman, 20, was a college student from New York. FBI agents found their bodies 44 days later. For decades, black civil rights workers had routinely disappeared or been murdered in the South. What captured the nation’s attention in this case was that two of the men were white.

Despite the known risks and dangers, nearly 1,000 white, middle-class college students volunteered to work to improve the lives of black citizens in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. For Vail, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, a newly burgeoning political awareness and the call of public service by President John F. Kennedy, along with her courageous spirit and indignation at injustice and cruelty, resulted in her joining the Mississippi Summer Project.

“So many students in the wake of [President John F.] Kennedy’s killing … wanted to get involved,” Vail said in a recent phone interview in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer.

A PASSAGE TO ACTIVISM Vail was from a fairly conservative, closeknit, lively family that included her mother, Gladys Conner Vail, a 1937 graduate of Wilson College; her father, an executive with

18 wilson magazine

U.S. Steel; and two younger brothers. Vail followed her mother’s path to Wilson College.

The environment at Wilson when Vail arrived in the fall of 1959 was that of a paternalistic, conservative women’s college.

Chapel was required, students had curfews and had to sign out when leaving campus.

Mixers were still being organized to meet boys from other colleges and Wilson had just graduated its first black student.

Vail spent her junior year from 1961 to 1962 abroad in France, then in the midst of Algeria’s war for independence. French young people were highly engaged politically. Living in France during that time had an enormous impact on her, she said. “It was liberating living in someone else’s country,” she said. “It was their problems and I was just an observer. There were police demonstrations … bombs going off. You always had to have your passport on you if you had to escape. It was an entirely different milieu than Chambersburg.”

French students and their parents were similarly intrigued by the civil rights protests in America. The International Herald Tribune printed photos of sit-ins and the Freedom Riders—civil rights activists who rode interstate buses in mixed racial groups through the South to challenge local laws that enforced segregation. French college students questioned Vail about the racism and increasing violence in America. She was embarrassed that she didn’t know much about it. “I had never paid any attention,”

she said. “It was a real eye-opener.” Shortly after the vote to liberate Algeria, Vail returned to Wilson College, with all of its rules and regulations. “After being out and about by yourself in a European city, it was hard to re-acclimate when you had had that much freedom.”

RETURN TO WILSON As Vail arrived back at Wilson for her senior year, her classmates also were becoming more politically aware. Vail’s roommate, Mary McGroarty ’64, was a member of Students for a Democratic Society and had recently returned from the national meeting. She and Vail tried unsuccessfully to convince the Wilson student body to establish a chapter of the National Students Association at a Wilson College Government Association meeting, but there was concern at Wilson that the National Students Association was a Communist front.

After graduation, Vail did what many college-educated women did in the early 1960s—she went to secretarial school. “It was considered the responsible thing to do,” she said. “I was dating a young man who was going to Harvard Law School. It never occurred to me that I should go to Harvard Law, but I did think I could be a secretary there.” By the end of the summer, Vail worked for two Harvard law professors.

While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Vail and two other Wilson alumnae—Georgette Ioup ’63, and Judy Corsen Coker ’63—

formed a band of like-minded, civic-oriented friends. Together they were involved with the Cambridge chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. Vail also began to tutor underprivileged junior high school girls from Roxbury as a member of the National Student Movement.

Her work as a tutor occurred at the height of the virulent anti-busing hysteria in Boston’s public schools, led by Louise Day Hicks, chairwoman of the Boston Public Schools system. Hicks vehemently denied that black children in Boston received an inferior education to white children. Vail saw the situation differently.

In a letter home, Vail wrote, “Louise Day Hicks, the leading light on the Boston School Committee, has been making a real ass of herself all over town. After working with NSM [National Student Movement], it makes us wonder which ’culturally deprived children’ these are who are receiving ’even more attention than the average Boston schoolchild.’ They are such blatant lies, at least as far as our experience has shown, that it is incomprehensible to me how the Committee can be so blind. This is really an exciting time to live, n’est-ce pas? If only it will all end in at least a somewhat better world.”

Then, Vail said, the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy changed everything.

’THEY’RE DEAD’ Vail compared the impact of Kennedy’s assassination to 9/11 for this generation. “It raised all the questions that were starting to simmer. What does it mean for the future?” she said. She and her friends got more involved with SDS, as did many young people in the wake of Kennedy’s assassination. “We tried to attend everything. Judy, Georgette and I went to a number of these meetings in which people from Mississippi would speak. For people who had just a taste of politics, it was a real education.

We were aghast at what was going on in

Mississippi. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee decided in early 1964 to organize the Mississippi Summer Project and many Harvard students in SDS decided to go.”

In a letter to her family in March 1964, Vail wrote, “I know you’ve always been a bit concerned about my liberal but slightly foolish, irrational ideas.

I used to laugh too until I discovered that the situation in this great democracy is no laughing matter. It is tragic and appalling. It’s frightening. … Our generation is gradually becoming reluctant to accept your world. …

There is a new society in the offing for the United States—since it will be my society as much as anyone else’s I want to have a hand in shaping it. The 100 year moratorium is over—and I for one refuse to be a party to any attempt to draw it out still longer.”

And with that, Vail announced her plans to spend the summer living with black families in Mississippi and registering black voters.

On May 23, 1964, Vail attended an all-day orientation for volunteers in Boston. She wrote to her parents, “The point they most emphasized over and over again was the fact that one of the only things which will keep us all safe (relatively) this summer is vast and continuous publicity of what we are doing. It is one of the few things which can prevent the Mississippi police et al. from doing as they wish, since when national attention is focused upon them they must tread more lightly. … In the meantime I am sewing little ’care packets’ into my skirts so that if I have to go to jail I will be prepared. … Hopefully I won’t go to jail, but just in case I do, would you be willing to post my bond? I seem to be getting you into something which you really didn’t want to be a part of. I am proud to say, however, that

I owe most of the way I feel about things of this sort to you both.”

During the middle of June, volunteers for Freedom Summer spent a week at

She hung up and said, ’Well, they’re missing. You know what that means.

They’re dead.

They’re not going to be found alive.’”

— PATRICIA VAIL ’63

Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, training in non-violent protest and voter registration techniques, as well as rules for survival in the segregated South.

“The organizers had no illusion about the potential for violence,” Vail said. “We really practiced lying on the ground and protecting our head.”

summer 2014 19

Vail arrived on June 21 for the training. That night, she waited to use the phone to call her parents. Another woman was already using it. “Rita Schwerner [wife of Michael Schwerner] was on the phone, obviously upset,” Vail recalled. “She hung up and said, ’Well, they’re missing. You know what that means. They’re dead. They’re not going to be found alive.’”

The next day, June 22, Vail wrote the letter to her parents that she had safely arrived in Oxford, Ohio, for the training and the first week’s group had arrived safely in Mississippi for their work.

“Then came the blow—the summer project’s first casualties,” Vail wrote them. “Three men had just arrived in Meridian (the ’safe,’ relatively speaking, part of Miss.) and had immediately set out to investigate the ruin of a Negro church which was burned last week. … At any rate, the FBI and Justice Dept. officials on the spot have refused to investigate the case.”

“This lack of cooperation on the part of federal officials may unfortunately set a precedent for the summer—i.e., the local officials seem to feel … that they can get away with murder (literally),” she wrote. “At the moment there is evidently nothing at all in the way of protection between us and the ruthlessness … of Miss. officials.”

AN ’INCOMPREHENSIBLE EVIL’ Official White House recordings of a phone conversation on June 23 between President Lyndon Johnson and U.S. Sen. James Eastland of Mississippi reveal the extent to which Southern officials misled everyone about the true nature of the violence in the segregated South.

Johnson: “Jim, we got three kids missing down there. What can we do about it?”

Eastland: “Well, I don’t know. I don’t believe there’s three missing. I believe it’s a publicity stunt.”

A letter to the Vails from the White House.

20 wilson magazine

Johnson: “… several weeks ago, I asked them [the FBI] to anticipate the problem that would come from this …”

Eastland: “Well, that’s all right. Now I’m gonna tell you why I don’t think there’s a damn thing to it. There’s no Ku Klux Klan in that part of

Photos, from left. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Whitney Young in the Oval Office in 1964; Patricia Vail’s activism was influenced by her trip overseas; a sign of the times.

Mississippi. Not a Citizen’s Council in that area. There’s no organized White Man in that area. Now if it had happened in other areas, I would, uh, pay more attention to it. ... I don’t think there’s anything to it.”

Immediately upon hanging up, Johnson received a call from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Hoover: “I wanted to let you know we found the car.”

Johnson: “Yeah?”

Hoover: “Now this is not known, nobody knows this at all, but the car was burned, and we do not know yet whether any bodies are in the car because of the intense heat … but I did want you to know that apparently what’s happened. These men have been killed.”

Johnson: “Well now, what would make you think they’d been killed?”

Hoover: “Because of the fact that it’s the same car that they were in … on the other hand they may have been taken out and killed on the outside.” ...

Johnson: “Or maybe kidnapped and locked up.”

Hoover: “Well, I would doubt whether those people down there would even give them that much of a break.”

A June 25, 1964, article in Ohio’s Dayton Daily News reported on the disappearances and interviewed volunteers from week two of the training, including Vail. The article read: “Iron determination and a feeling of deep personal involvement have swept civil rights workers here after the disappearance in Mississippi of three of their fellow workers. Pat Vail said, ’As for convictions, it has probably made them stronger. And by bits and snatches I am starting to realize the vastness of this—and the incomprehensible evil of all of it.’”

The next day, Vail wrote to her family of the group’s plans to leave the following morning. “Please say a prayer for all of us,” Vail wrote. “My stomach feels as though it’s in my shoes and my heart in my throat.”

The bus that Vail and the other volunteers rode made a stop at the Memphis, Tennessee, bus station. Men with guns and dogs greeted them. Vail and her seatmate talked about how they would one day tell their children about what they did here. “This was our first experience with white bathrooms and ’colored’ bathrooms,” she said.

“Visually, it was a shock. My God, this was real. People really do this. Little by little the reality kept washing over us. What am I doing? I must be out of my mind.”

THE MISSISSIPPI SUMMER During her first week in Mississippi, Vail described her situation to her parents in a

letter: “Have started to get used to being stared at and now carry about a notebook to take down descriptions of suspicious looking vehicles. Never walk out a door without surveying the streets and sidewalks first, and always have one person who practically walks backward so as to check for ’snipers’ from behind.”

“It became more clear that we were there as a foil, as a way to draw attention to the problem,” Vail said. “People were not paying attention to the black community as it was living through this. Having middle class students being willing to commit to it brought attention.”

Vail realized the attention and worry she felt was part of the never-ending experience of blacks in the South. “The black community was just so welcoming and so willing to take risks,” she said. “They were running the risk of being beaten up, losing their jobs and their homes. How could I not be as brave as they were? The violence never ended. You learned how to be cautious and deal with it. You can’t stay in that hysteria and accomplish anything.”

She moved a half dozen times that summer, from one black family to another. “You would live with a family for a few weeks and they would be threatened and you would have to move on,” she said. “At one home, three of us shared a bed. You tried to sleep without moving, it was so hot. There was nothing easy about it for anyone.”

summer 2014 21

On July 17, Vail’s mother and father received a letter from U.S. Sen. Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania. “I am sorely troubled about the real and immediate physical threat to the safety of the civil rights workers in the [freedom] project posed by armed white extremists,” he wrote them. “I have been endeavoring for months to persuade the Department of Justice to provide as much protection for these courageous young people as the Federal Constitution permits.”

On Aug. 4, the bodies of the three slain activist were found. Hoover reported to the president: “The sheriff was in on it.

The deputy sheriff was in on it and the justice of the peace was in on it, with seven others. … It was the Klan.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy continued to insist that the federal government could do nothing to keep the civil rights workers safe. “Law enforcement is a local matter,” he said, despite evidence local law enforcement was intimately involved in the crimes and harassment of both black and white civil rights workers.

The finding of the bodies did not surprise Vail and the other volunteers.

For them, it was “a foregone conclusion” that the men had been murdered.

“There was anger and sorrow and renewed commitment to our goals, but not surprise,” she said.

Vail and others continued their voter registration work. Later that month, Vail traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the Democratic National Convention. Much of the work in Mississippi to register voters was in order to get Fannie Lou Hamer and other delegates of the newly formed Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party seated at the convention. “It’s such a change for one to be in the midst of action rather than reading about it in the paper,” Vail wrote.

“Really exhilarating. It gives me an idea

22 wilson magazine

of what JFK called the sense of destiny— something that in 40 years I can look back on, too, and say—I helped do that—it’s a

People who were of good will were afraid to speak. It’s not unlike what we have now with the politicians afraid to stand up to the NRA.” — PATRICIA VAIL ’63

sense of belonging … to something bigger than myself.”

After the convention, Vail returned to Mississippi and stayed beyond the summer,

becoming involved in more aspects of the Mississippi Summer Project. In a September letter to her parents, she described the outrageous fees placed on black children trying to attend public schools and voting restrictions placed on the black community. “Looking at the school board action with some sort of historical perspective of life in Mississippi, I can see a certain parallel between this tightening up of restrictions in public education and the gradual increase in impossibility in the voting procedures,” she wrote to her parents. “Suddenly in the last half of the 1950s when Mississippi began to see the Negroes as a menace should they get too much political power through the vote, so one by one, additions were made to the registration rules.”

In March 1965, Vail wrote to her family from the Greenville City Jail in Mississippi: “Dear Family, Sorry I haven’t written in so long. Had planned to get a note off yesterday as to events here until I became part of the events.”

Civil rights workers had picketed the Greenville Mill for failing to hire black workers. The group changed its route to include a portion of a street in a white neighborhood. Police arrested 18 civil rights workers, including Vail. While held overnight, she wrote a letter to her parents using the bottom of a tin cup as a writing surface: “We haven’t eaten anything since we’ve been here (24 hours) but a candy bar and an orange.

The food looks atrocious, so we’re not very tempted anyhow. We sang until our voices gave out last night.

Could just barely hear the other group through all the concrete.” The charge against her was later dismissed.

Throughout her year in Mississippi, Vail’s parents supported her endeavors, both financially and emotionally. Many years later, Vail found out from a cousin that her parents lost friends due to her involve-

ment in the civil rights movement. Her parents never let on that her actions impacted them in that way, she said. “They were surely alone in their community. There were no other folks who had kids getting involved in civil rights.”

LOOKING BACK Vail—who has attended reunions with the volunteers of the Mississippi Summer Project—has a sense of optimism as well as renewed concern.

“People who were of good will were afraid to speak,” she said. “It’s not unlike what we have now with the politicians afraid to stand up to the NRA. That kind of threat just permeated everything. And of course for many people it was reality, not just threat.”

Vail sees parallels with the disenfranchisement of black voters in Mississippi with renewed efforts to limit voter registration by requiring certain forms of photo identification, she said.

Vail noted the hate spewed on cable news shows today was heard on radios in Mississippi in the 1960s. “It was unremitting. It’s hard to imagine now just how awful it was,” she said. “People just don’t know how bad it was. And how bad it could be again.”

After marrying and having two children, Vail finally did attend law school and had a successful corporate career. Her commitment to fighting injustice has continued throughout her life. She has spent considerable time working for causes such as gun control, minority and women’s rights, and for the disabled and elderly. After retirement, she went to Kazakhstan for a year with the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, working on legal reform projects.

Vail lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and continues to do pro bono legal work through Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. “Since I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize most people don’t change,” Vail said. “Either they have good will and concern toward others or they don’t. You are not going to change them.” W Photos, from top. Patricia Vail ’63 at work during Freedom Summer; education of students played a large part of the work in Freedom Summer; protestors carry signs.

summer 2014 23

AROUND THE GREEN

Mila Dragojevic ’97 in Croatia with former Yugoslavian leader Josip Tito’s yacht in the background.

24 wilson magazine

EXAMINING THE PAST

CAN BE PERSONAL Wilson grad wins prestigious grant, fellowship for research on conflict in her homeland

By Gina Gallucci-White

M

ila Dragojevic’s pursuit of knowledge led her from her war-torn Croatian homeland to the peaceful campus of Wilson College and back to the Balkans as part of her ongoing research on the conflicts and their effects on civilians. Now a political science professor at Sewanee: The University of the South, Dragojevic ’97 recently earned a prestigious grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation to assist her work.

“I was shocked,” she recalled of learning she received the grant. “I didn’t expect I would get it. ... It is a lot of luck because they receive so many different proposals.

I feel lucky but I also feel a great responsibility to deliver something that will be worthwhile of this grant.”

From 2006 to 2009, Dragojevic conducted field work in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dragojevic interviewed a variety of people from state officials to refugees. She built a database of newspaper articles and conducted surveys of 1,200 respondents in four cities.

The conflict, also known as the Croatian War of Independence, resulted in 20,000 deaths from 1991 to 1995 as part of the breakup of Yugoslavia.

“I’m trying to understand why during the wars in the ’90s … there were some areas of Croatia where the violence was more prominent than in [other areas]," she said.

The research also will focus on violence against civilians.

In mid-May, Dragojevic also was awarded Sewanee’s James D. Kennedy III Endowed Faculty Fellowship, which pro-

vides three years of funding for research and professional development opportunities. She has presented her findings in multiple publications and at conferences.

Her first book, The Politics of Social Ties: Immigrants in an Ethnic Homeland, was published in June.

Dragojevic traveled back to Croatia for four months earlier this year to do research and returned in June for an additional month. Going back to her home country brought back memories, she said. While parts of the journey were not easy, she found the experience to be very rewarding. "It’s not just about research," she said. "It’s also about understanding your own life in a way. It’s very rewarding to have that closure.”

Dragojevic’s return to her native land followed a path that took her through Wilson as a college student. She came to the United States as a foreign exchange student with her host family based in Winchester, Va. She knew she wanted to attend college in America. One day the family was driving through Chambersburg when they passed by Wilson. Her host father asked, “’Did you apply here?’” she said. "I said ’No. I didn’t yet.’ He said, ’Let’s stop and pick up an application.’ And so I picked up an application, applied and it ended up being the college I went to."

At Wilson, Dragojevic found the small class sizes allowed for close relationships with professors. She also felt encouraged to pursue multiple interests—writing, international studies, business and political science. She doubled majored in business

and economics with a minor in French.

One of her favorite Wilson memories involved the Muhibbah International Club, which promotes diversity, multiculturalism and acceptance of other cultures and traditions. The club’s annual international dinner and performance features food and entertainment from different countries.

“We spent all day and all night cooking together for these big dinners,” she said.

“It was fun.”

After graduation from Wilson, Dragojevic obtained a master’s degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire, a master’s degree in public and international affairs from Northeastern University and a doctorate from Brown University. “I had this need to pursue further education and to seek out the career that I would feel I could constantly learn something new and be surrounded by students and an academic environment,” she said. “For me, that is an ideal profession.”

At Sewanee, Dragojevic is known as an engaging teacher who uses discussion, lecture and video material in class to encourage students to think about what they have read and to apply it to current events, said Scott Wilson, a Sewanee professor and chair of the Department of Politics.

“One of the areas in which Mila stands out is her close relations with her students, often forged through close collaboration on research projects,” he said. “Mila earns the respect of her students and always receives high praise from them for her warmth and commitment.” W

summer 2014 25

INTERPRETING KATRINA

THROUGH THE RESCUE OF PETS Because They Have No Words

By Laura B. Hans ’13

D

uring Hurricane Katrina in 2005, emergency responders rescued many families from the rising flood waters, but required them to leave their pets behind in order to save as many people as possible.

As part of the educational experience, Woolley arranged a panel discussion during her class with experts from the College to respond to discussion generated by the play “from many different professional and disciplinary perspectives,” she said.

This spring, Wilson English professor Lisa Woolley incorporated the issue of pet rescue from Hurricane Katrina into her course, “Writing about Literature in the Environment.” Woolley’s class read Because They Have No Words, a play co-written by Tim Maddock and Lotti Louise Pharris.

The play chronicles one man’s volunteer efforts to help rescue animals in Louisiana during the aftermath of Katrina. The play’s title reflects upon giving a voice to the animal victims—those who “have no words.” In addition to the human toll of more than 1,800 confirmed deaths and $108 billion in damage, Katrina also stranded more than 250,000 pets.

Speakers from multiple disciplines, in what Woolley called a “truly liberal arts experience,” included veterinary medical technology professors Tina Roles and Tammy Ege, as well as college counselor Cindy Shoemaker. “I work a lot with students who

The play stood out because “it was so rich and could be approached from many angles,” Woolley said. Because They Have No Words explores many themes beyond pet rescue, like environmental justice, sexuality, volunteerism, and grief and loss.

The play has “different meanings for different audiences and there is a lot to respond to beyond the parameters of the course,” Woolley said. “[One could] connect it to our students’ experiences as volunteers or as future veterinarians.”

26 wilson magazine

how we would treat each other, and what catastrophe does to us as people out of our comfort zone,” Shoap said. “These are all valuable issues to talk about in a collective.”

After Woolley approached Shoap about contributing to the panel discussion, he decided Because They Have No Words would work as the College’s spring play production in April. “Maybe in the great scheme people don’t think the story of the pets is important, but it became

Maybe in the great scheme people don’t think the story of the pets is important, but it became important.”

— Richard Shoap,

adjunct theater instructor have grief and loss issues, which include loss of pets,” Shoemaker said. “I have been to New Orleans three times on mission trips for Katrina rebuilds, so I could personally relate to the setting of the play.”

Adjunct theater instructor Richard Shoap was also on the panel, as was Wilson Chaplain Rosie Magee, who spoke about volunteerism. “The play speaks to important issues—how we, as a society, would treat the animals that are our companions,

important,” he said. “This is another part of the Katrina story. We have these pets; we profess to care for them, but what happens when disaster strikes? They have no words. They depend on us to protect them.” W

PHOTO BY BOB STOLER

AROUND THE GREEN

From left, Myah Quirin ’17, Carol Zehosky ’15 and Nicole Zuleger ’17 perform in Because They Have No Words, a play about the rescue of pets from Hurricane Katrina.

summer 2014 27

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

AROUND THE GREEN

28 wilson magazine

MAKING THE

MOST Caileigh Oliver ’14 pursued her passions to write her Wilson experience

By Marissa Feldberg ’14

W

hen Caileigh Oliver ’14 entered Wilson College as a freshman, she decided that she would take classes, participate in gymnastics and not much else.

That did not last.

“I actually ended up taking advantage of all of the clubs,” Oliver said. “This really helped me grow. I became really aware of opportunities. There are so many advantages to participating. I’ve met so many amazing people. Of course, it wasn’t always comfortable. It really pushed me.”

Oliver worked as a resident assistant, played on Wilson’s soccer and lacrosse teams, served as a member of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Council, represented Wilson at numerous athletic prevention programming and leadership education conferences, spent her junior year as the Billboard’s editor-in-chief, her senior year as the Wilson College Government Association president, and attended numerous leadership conferences and events.

“Caileigh is an extraordinary student and an equally extraordinary person,” said Billboard adviser Kimberly Maske-Mertz ’08.

“As editor-in-chief of the Billboard, she not only developed a great rapport with the staff, but also exhibited a high level of ambition and motivation that seems rare these days. I see exciting things in Caileigh’s future and I really think she has what it takes to change the world.”

Oliver spent several years homeschooled before she decided to attend classes at Hagerstown Community College. She spent a year at HCC and while she felt relatively comfortable in the smaller classes there, she wanted an environment that felt more like home.

“Community college was different than homeschool,” Oliver said. “Wilson was natural.

It felt safe and nice. It felt familiar at Wilson.”

“The smaller classes here allowed me to develop relationships with professors,” she said. “The small campus felt like a community. I slept on campus during a gymnastics visit and decided. Wilson was for me.”

Wilson classmate Lesley Eichelberger witnessed Oliver’s dedication. “I saw her juggle an unbelievably demanding schedule without complaining,” Eichelberger said. “I also got to know her on a more personal level and she is as kind and thoughtful as she is smart.”

Oliver said her extracurricular involvement helped solidify her interest in politics and journalism. “I always had an interest in politics,” she said. “I took classes and fell in love with politics. I attended the New Leadership PA Conference at Chatham, where I met women getting involved in state and local communications. I fell into mass communications working at the Wilson Billboard in the sports department and decided to pursue [the major] further.”

Oliver would like to move into a career in advocacy work, she said. “I hope to bring my communications experience with me. I’d like to share stories and raise awareness,” she said. “Some of my interests include women’s rights issues, domestic violence, furthering the rights of survivors, and combating a rape culture that is so prevalent in society.”

Last year as a resident assistant, Oliver helped orchestrate the Clothesline Project, a month-long sexual violence awareness effort. “We provide participants with T-shirts and supplies,” she said. “The shirt color they receive is based on the issue they are

focusing on, whether it is rape, childhood violence or other issues. They decorate the shirts with their messages or experiences.

Later on, we hang up the shirts in Lenfest Commons to raise awareness.”

Oliver also participated in the Student Social Justice Training Institute at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a weeklong event held in the summer of 2013.

“We looked at identities and how our actions can reinforce or break stereotypes,” she said. “It gave me a lot of inspiration about raising awareness of different religious identities, sexual identities, abilities and other identities. It also really helped me look at my own identity: how I helped reinforce discrimination, how I could be an ally for feminism.”

“Feminism is important to me because I believe in promoting equality for all,” Oliver said. “In our current society, women struggle to achieve equal footing and recognition with men. Attending Wilson has reaffirmed my belief that women can do anything men can do.”

While experiences at Wilson helped Oliver realize her interest and commitment to social justice and equality for women, she also cherished her personal experiences.

“It’s been the little things,” Oliver said.

“Time with friends, incredible bonding experiences, movies, random trips to Walmart and Target—it was the small things that truly make it a college experience.”

After four years at Wilson, Oliver said she is a completely different person from when she entered, but that she has wholeheartedly enjoyed her Wilson experience.

“I would do it all over again if I could,” she said. “I loved every second of it.” W

summer 2014 29

EVERY COACH’S

DREAM Megan Schneck ’14 Joins Wilson Athletics Hall of Fame

By Samantha Burmeister

W

hen Megan Schneck ’14 entered Wilson College, she did not know if her previous experience in field hockey and softball would be enough for her to compete at the college level. Four years later, Schneck graduated from Wilson as a member of the Wilson College Athletics Hall of Fame.

Schneck credited her success to softball coach Brett Cline and field hockey coach Shelly Novak. “I truly owe my accomplishments to them,” Schneck said. “They saw the potential in me that I didn’t believe I had, and they helped me build my confidence in both sports.”

Schneck had played field hockey since seventh grade, but did not think she would be able to be a college athlete.

“Shelly Novak pushed me and allowed me to see that I do have the skills it takes to play college hockey,” she said.

On Wilson’s field hockey team, Megan Schneck tallied 26 career goals, including eight game-winning goals, placing her fourth in all-time scoring at Wilson since 1992. She also tied for seventh place in career assists. Throughout her collegiate field hockey career, Schneck helped guide the Phoenix to a 38-26 overall record.

“Megan is an outstanding example of the complete student-athlete,” Novak said.

“Her hard work and extraordinary effort have earned her this well-deserved recognition. She is every coach’s dream, and I was blessed to have had the opportunity to coach her.”

Schneck began her career on the softball diamond in third grade playing for her father, whom she recognizes as her

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biggest fan. In high school, she struggled offensively and bounced around positions for a time.

“I remember when Brett Cline and Rick Phelps came and watched me play probably the worst game in my high school career,” Schneck said. “They switched me to a left-handed hitter and it totally changed my game. I became a base-running machine and my slapping and short game was my weapon at the plate. I never thought I would be able to hit left-handed when Brett told me I would be doing that.”

goals and accomplishments,” Cline said.

“Megan has been a team-centered player for the Wilson softball program from day one and developed into our team leader.”

In addition to her success on the field, Schneck received several academic and community service honors including National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Academic honors four years in a row. Schneck also served as chair of the Wilson College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

They saw the potential in me that I didn’t believe I had, and they helped me build my confidence in both sports.

— Megan Schneck ’14 On the softball field, Schneck secured the title of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s statistical champion in runs per game in 2012. She was also named to the 2012 North Eastern Athletic Conference Second Team All-Conference, as well as the 2013 and 2014 NEAC First Team All-Conference.

Schneck completed her Wilson softball career with a .391 batting average over 119 games. She tallied 148 hits, 102 runs and 83 stolen bases. During her softball tenure, the Phoenix logged an 80-49 overall record.

“One of the best qualities about Megan is that she never compares herself to others.

She only compares herself with her own

Off the field, Schneck was involved in tutoring Special Olympics athletes through the field hockey and softball programs.

She also participated in the Wilson College Athletic Department Adopt-a-Highway program.

“I could not have achieved the honor of being inducted into the Wilson Athletics Hall of Fame without my teammates and coaches encouraging me,” Schneck said.

“Balancing two sports and being involved on campus can be challenging, but Wilson showed me that I can do anything my heart desires—that with hard work and dedication, I can achieve just about anything. Wilson helped me build confidence in my own ability to succeed, wherever that may be.” W

PHOTO BY MATTHEW LESTER

AROUND THE GREEN

Megan Schneck ’14 was named to Wilson College’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

PHOENIX SPORTS WRAP The Wilson Athletics Hall of Fame inducted three student-athletes—softball and field hockey player MEGAN SCHNECK ’14, soccer player COURTNEY BERNECKER ’14 and basketball player VANESSA WHITFIELD ’14 —during the annual Wilson Athletics Awards Ceremony May 11.

Wilson’s softball team finished the 2014 season with a 15-14 overall record and a 10-8 record in league play, earning it a spot in the North Eastern Athletic Conference playoffs. On May 2, the team defeated State University of New York Institute of Technology 6-5 in the opening round. The team dropped its next two playoff games against Penn State Berks and Penn State Abington,

eliminating Wilson from the tournament. Four Phoenix players received NEAC All-Conference recognition for their achievements on the softball diamond during the 2014 season. Senior second baseman MEGAN SCHNECK and infielder KAYLA SULLENBERGER ’17 were selected to the South Division All-Conference first team. Pitcher TAYLOR CROUSE ’16 and shortstop ASHLEEN MCCULLOUGH ’15 were named to the South Division All-Conference second team. All-Conference first and second teams are comprised of the top 20 players in the conference and are selected by the NEAC head softball coaches.

summer 2014 31

— president’s —

forum

DEFINING VALUE

By Barbara K. Mistick, president

T

he student debt crisis: what does it mean and is it real? These questions have become prominent in the media recently and it seems as though everyone has a different opinion about the right answer. The New York Times Magazine ran a June 22 cover feature that painted a largely bleak picture of the “boomerang generation”—students who return home after college—alongside a photo essay with thumbnail profiles of students burdened with debt living with their parents. Two days later The New York Times ran another story describing the student debt crisis as overblown by the media and distracting from real issues. Which is it?

The real answer is that both views are true.

When speaking about Wilson College’s commitment to value and affordability, I often ask people to respond to following question: “What do you think the average amount of student debt is for undergraduates?” Without exception, most people respond that students carry $50,000 or more in debt, with many believing the level to be above $100,000. The answer, according to the Student Debt Project, is $29,400.* While not an insignificant amount, it is much lower than the public perception.

It isn’t surprising that people are misinformed on the topic. Tuition costs and student debt have become highly politicized topics and easy fodder for media outlets. Of the seven students profiled in The New York Times Magazine photo essay, five of them had debt levels between $40,000 and $90,000, while two—the last two presented—were between $10,000 and $12,000. While student debt is real, there is often a part to this debate that is missing—or misunderstood. Value.

Value in higher education is often lost in a sea of statistics. Even studies that support the value of a college degree, like the recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, present the argument in terms of career earnings. But the real value of a college degree is an equation of tangible and intangible elements, and to understand it requires us to look beyond the numbers.

College is a time of incredible personal and intellectual growth for students. The experience, especially that of a residential liberal arts college program, is not just a passive exercise in absorbing information and theory, it is about active learning. Learning how

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to think and creatively solve problems. Learning how to communicate and interact with others. Learning about yourself and considering your future. Perhaps the most important part of this experience, the part that gives the college experience true weight, is the relationships and connections that students form, particularly with professors.

A faculty body like Wilson’s cares about the individual student and works closely to guide each through her education, helps her find internships, listens to her struggles and shares in her accomplishments. This part of college is much harder to quantify and is easy for many to dismiss. After all, doesn’t every graduate have this experience? The answer to that question is not yes or no—and that brings us to the hard part of the equation.

Value in a college education is a partnership. Colleges provide worthwhile academic and co-curricular opportunities, but the quality of the experience is directly affected by the involvement and engagement of the individual student. But a student’s responsibility for their education and their student debt doesn’t begin at first-year orientation. Students who apply themselves to achieve academically and are involved in co-curricular activities in high school are not only better prepared to succeed in college, but they also earn improved scholarship and financial aid opportunities.

Once in college, these same responsibilities continue. Maintaining academic performance maintains financial aid, and taking advantage of co-curricular options prepares students for life after graduation.

There has been much talk about “disruptive change” in higher education—a rethinking of the traditional ways colleges operate and deliver an education—with cost and debt being a large part of that discussion. This is where colleges need to take responsibility and it is where the partnership between student and institution continues. Colleges do have a responsibility to help control costs and to limit student debt, and initiatives at Wilson help to illustrate how disruptive—or what we used to call creative—thinking helps to address this issue.

Many colleges and universities, including Wilson College, have reduced or reset tuition in the past two years. While this helps with

costs, on its own the impact is moderate and does not necessarily address debt in a meaningful way. At Wilson, students who maintain good academic standing and are engaged campus community members may enter a student debt buyback program, which rewards students who graduate in four years for their commitment.

Through this program, students can earn between $3,000 and $10,000 toward their federal student debt upon graduation.

The program has two additional elements important in limiting debt. Students who want to take advantage of the program sign a pledge before enrolling to only borrow what is necessary to meet educational expenses. Student loans have become a business and, as with any business, loan agencies and banks look for ways to make money. This has led to the “upselling” of loans to include money for items beyond educational costs and is another contributing factor in student debt.

The other key element of the buyback program is graduation in four years. Somewhere along the way, the standard for graduation rates became six years. With this as the standard, we’ve seen a reduced expectation among students to graduate in four years. That is a contributing factor in student debt because it adds two years of tuition and costs to the bottom line—and is the primary reason our debt buyback program requires graduation in four years.

But the College’s responsibility to our partnership with students and our commitment to value does not end there.

Understanding the cost (or as some might say, the financial consequence) of college is another critically important part of the equation. All prospective students at Wilson receive individual financial aid counseling to help them understand what their debt levels will be at graduation and they take financial literacy courses in both their freshman and senior years. These courses teach students to examine the salary levels of their chosen fields, the cost of living in the areas where they would like to live and teaches them how to budget and manage their money in those circumstances.

While we continue to look for ways to build upon our commitment to the value equation, there are others that play roles in this partnership as well. State governments have a large role to play.

Whether it is through scholarship programs for low-income and

first-generation students or direct budget funding of state institutions, they have a vested interest in higher education. In announcing a new scholarship program this spring, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said, “Every dollar invested in a child is a dollar invested in the future of the Commonwealth.” The Pennsylvania Legislature recently passed a budget that includes the Ready to Succeed Scholarship program. This is a scholarship program for middle-income students and is an important development both for Wilson and our students.

A common misperception of Wilson—and with private liberal arts colleges in general—is that we primarily serve a wealthy population, but this is far from reality. Wilson’s enrollment has a median family income of $74,000, includes more than 30 percent first-generation students and serves a student population in which 44 percent are eligible for Pell Grants—federal grants awarded to moderate- and low-income families. And 97 percent of our students receive some form of aid from more than 100 scholarships and other aid opportunities provided by the College. The programs we have in place, along with the Ready to Succeed Scholarships, open Wilson to students who may have thought it out of their reach, making the College a more manageable reality for their future.

Today, both colleges and students are stepping forward and accepting the mantle of responsibility with regard to controlling costs and reducing student debt. While we rightly tend to controlling costs and debt, let us not lose sight of the intangible nature of value. It is, after all, the very foundation of liberal arts education. * For the Class of 2012, 71 percent of graduates hold an average of $29,400 in debt. projectonstudetndebt.org

summer 2014 33

—

viewpoint — ’FIRMLY PLEDGED’ TO

WILSON TODAY

By Julia Solleveld Osborne ’64

I

have not missed a Reunion since my graduation in 1964—nor passed up an opportunity to visit Wilson when in the area— and I would like to share my observations from the College’s most recent Reunion Weekend. As lifetime class president and co-treasurer, and as the recent chair of our class gift fund, I believe I can represent most of my classmates, 44 of whom attended Reunion this year. Among us, we gave an unprecedented $101,964 class gift to the John Stewart Memorial Library project, with 67 percent class participation, and we donated more than $50,000 to the Wilson Fund. This is in addition to generous contributions from classmates directly to the library and other worthy areas. The attendance and donations of our class speak to the faith we have in the changes taking place and the future of Wilson College.

Over the past two decades, attending reunions and reading the Quarterly and other news of Wilson left me with a feeling that maybe there would not be an alma mater to go to in the future. The campus infrastructure was in need of repair and upgrades, and the educational and student life offerings were suffering from a lack of funding. Wilson seemed to be stuck in the past once again.

This Reunion was different! I felt a vibrancy on campus and saw much to rejoice. Returning alumnae stayed in the freshly renovated McElwain and Davison halls, which included new appliances and furniture. President Barbara K. Mistick and her staff were enthusiastic, visible and personable. The Office of InstitutionalAdvancement was involved, supportive and helpful with the gift fund campaign for our class gift. The Office of Alumnae/i Relations did an outstanding job of planning, organizing and executing a very busy weekend of activities, meals and parties. The campus was very much alive and buzzing once again.

After hearing the informative presentation by President Mistick on the state of the College at the Alumnae Association meeting, I was convinced that Wilson was in good hands. Change is difficult.

Those who have a vision and lead need courage and support. The decision to move Wilson into the future was backed by thorough, empirical data with careful study and reflection over a long period.

This was not an easy decision, but definitely the right one. It was obvious at this meeting that, unfortunately, there still seems to

34 wilson magazine

be a small, persistent group of naysayers who want to keep Wilson stuck in an untenable past. It appears that they are unwilling to go along with a professional and majority opinion on Wilson’s future direction. They are wasting valuable time, energy and the financial resources of the College on fighting petty procedural matters with various governmental agencies, and nitpicking at the staff. I was dismayed to learn that the legal fees to deal with this group’s actions are equivalent to eight financial aid packages. What a shame!

Without a vision and a viable plan for the future, the status quo mentality will cause further stagnation. We have many examples of that in industry. Are any of us still using a rotary phone or typewriter?

How do we continue to move forward and inform this small group they don’t represent us?

• Unsubscribe from their negative emails, Facebook and other social media rantings. If an email doesn’t have an @wilson.edu address, unsubscribe and then delete it. This group—which has many aliases—claims to represent all alumnae. Support Wilson and speak up with a positive voice.

• Stay up to date through the Wilson website. See for yourself how Wilson is succeeding with the Wilson Today plan. The curriculum and degree programs are expanding, the infrastructure is improving, recruitment results are encouraging and the College is successfully planning and funding for capital improvements. It is a WOW! • Contribute to the Wilson Fund and other Wilson gift-giving avenues to demonstrate your faith and support for Wilson’s future.

Every gift, no matter the size, shows support.

• Finally, reflect on these chosen words of our Alma Mater: “Wilson how we love to hear it, more and more throughout the years. … For her name is alma mater and we’ll ever stand as one, firmly pledged to love and honor, till the sands of life are run.”

— hidden —

history

O

n Oct. 19, 1925, the Wilson College student body assembled in curved lines, ready to have the school picture taken. The photographer focused his camera on one end, slowly making his way around to the other end for a panoramic photograph of the entire student body.

The archives contains only a handful of these panoramic photographs found in some boxes of unprocessed materials.

The 1925 photograph had been tightly rolled, but once it was flattened with weights at each end, it could be stored properly. With the weights laid out, it was much easier to view the full image.

One peculiarity immediately jumps out. There was President Warfield on one side—and there he was again on the other side, not quite turned to the camera, same dark suit and same gray beard. The girls standing nearest to him on this side seemed to be laughing. Looking closer still, at least one of those girls, dressed in a fur-trimmed coat, was also a duplicate.

Here was a mystery. How did President Warfield and the student manage to be in two places at once?

The answer was found in an anecdote in the correspondence from a student in the 1920s to her father. She described having a photograph of Wilson’s student body taken: “A little freshman and I were standing beside Dr. Warfield at the end at which the camera was focused. When the camera turned away, we ran to the other end of the row. Dr. Warfield

followed us mimicing [sic] the way we ran. Thus we three are in the picture twice.”

Panoramic photography was introduced soon after the invention of photography itself in 1839. Photographers wanted to be able to show landscapes, cityscapes, special events and large group portraits that could not be captured satisfactorily in a standard image. Early panoramas were created by placing daguerreotype plates side by side to “stitch” together an image much like digital imaging software today.

In 1904, the Cirkut camera was patented and quickly became popular with commercial photographers. The Cirkut, and its film, rotated to create a wider view, but the resulting photograph could be distorted. One way to compensate for possible distortion was to arrange groups in a semi-circle, which in the final product would appear as a straight line.

So the mystery of the two Warfields was fully explained.

While the panoramic camera rotated, the two girls—and Dr. Warfield behind them—had time to run around to the other side before it was photographed.

The panorama on its own is a great addition to Wilson’s historic collection of photographs, but knowing the story behind it enriches the viewing experience.

— Leigh Rupinski

SOLVING THE RIDDLE OF THE PANORAMIC PRANK

The left and right ends from a 1925 panoramic photo of the Wilson student body, spliced together here, show the College’s president and two students at both ends of photo.

summer 2014 35

ASSOCIATION NEWS

T

he Alumnae Association of Wilson College had another busy year.

We have been overwhelmed by the generous spirit of the members who have given so much of themselves to support the College and the association. We would like to share our accomplishments with you.

OFFICE OF ALUMNAE/I RELATIONS Marybeth Famulare has been doing a great job. We would like to send our praise and thanks for her excellent work. She certainly makes my job easier. Thank you, Marybeth.

We hope you are enjoying the monthly e-newsletter. It contains news and happenings from the association and around campus. It goes out around the 15th of every month.

The association website (www.wilson.edu/aawc) lists events and volunteer opportunities and has alumnae volunteer forms available.

I encourage you to complete a form and return it to the alumnae/i relations office. We also post announcements and summary overviews following our board meetings to the site. Both of these communication vehicles foster outreach among alumnae, students, faculty and staff.

We have enjoyed improved communications between the Alumnae Association and Wilson College Government Association. A student meets with Marybeth on a regular basis to exchange ideas about opportunities, raise questions and make suggestions. The student representative is a member of our Student/Parent Relations Committee.

ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE The Engagement Committee has been busy this year. The chair is a member of the Wilson Magazine committee, which meets to determine the content of the next issue of the magazine. The association has made our opposition to the “editing” of Class Notes with regard to opinions about changes at the College well-known to the communications department. The committee encourages you to keep us informed of your contact information. We will be making a concerted effort to obtain more email addresses over the next year. The association co-sponsored events during Women’s History Month, Graduation Fair, Senior Bash and Commencement. Wilson Reads, an online book club, was created by a group of alumnae volunteers. The main event for the Engagement Committee is Reunion Weekend. Hopefully you are enjoying the wide range of activities—the weather has certainly cooperated.

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HERITAGE COMMITTEE The Heritage Committee has been involved in many projects this year.

They are working with the Office of Institutional Advancement to make available an online digital map of the location of commemorative bricks on campus. This map can now be accessed from the Wilson College website (www.wilson.edu/brickmap).

The Ring-it-Forward program is a new tradition-based program in which Wilson alums can donate their Wilson ring to be passed on to a current student. To date, five rings have been donated. Four of the rings were “forwarded” during Commencement Weekend. The fifth ring will be given during Leadership Weekend.

A policy was developed in conjunction with institutional advancement to enable AAWC to be a part of the “thank you” process anytime a landscape donation is made to the College.

The association, based upon a recommendation by the committee, purchased a cabinet to house the Colonel McClure collection, making it more easily accessible for visitors who wish to view the collection and to allow more items to be shown. The case is located in Norland Parlor and maintained by the Hankey Center archivist.

The committee is working with the admissions department to be available to them as needed and to participate in on-campus events to inform prospective students and their families about the role AAWC plays in college life.

Other ongoing and future projects: • Encouraging more exposure for 1932 Wilson graduate and prolific poet Alice Mackenzie Swaim • Research the history of and help to ensure the continuous care of the Class of 1922 Memory Garden • Assess the current condition of the Edgar Bell and its possible relocation. Also to make it prominent in new Wilson traditions.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE The Nominating Committee works diligently all year. It fills vacancies created by resignations, requests nominations to fill board seats and makes contact with nominees. Each year at our annual meeting, a

slate representing a wide cross-section of alumnae/i is presented for election. In order to facilitate a smooth transition to board service, mentors for all incoming board members were identified. The New Board Member Handbook was revised, as well as the revised guidelines for mentors. The committee fulfills all governance responsibilities required for the board (conflict of interest, code of conduct, board self-assessment).

STUDENT AND PARENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE The Aunt Sarah Program is doing well. We had over 100 students and alumnae/i participating. The program is now open to any student, in any program—traditional college, Adult Degree Program and Women with Children program.

The committee sponsors a day for Food for Finals each semester.

Cash for Causes Program raised $175 this year. We raised $276 from our link with Amazon.com. Monies from this endeavor help with the cost of alumnae/i-student opportunities. The cards may be purchased throughout the year. Other activities sponsored by the association include, but are not limited to, s’mores at the bonfire during new student orientation, a daisy chain hanging near the post office, and student gift giving (blue neoprene pouches). These pouches were so popular that the faculty expressed interest, so the association gave each faculty and staff member the gift as an expression of appreciation.

This past year the association granted six requests for internship monies totaling over $1,500. These funds are given to us by individuals, regional clubs and the sale of merchandise through Amazon.com.

RECOGNITION AND STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE The committee has selected the association award recipients. The committee is working with Carolyn Woods, director of the Wilson Fund, to hold “Thank-A-Thons” a couple of times each year. We continue to write personal thank you notes. We are reaching out to those donating under $1,000 to the Wilson Fund.

TRAVEL COMMITTEE The Travel Committee has been working hard on opportunities for alumnae/i to travel together. Two people enjoyed visiting Prague in May 2013. In September 2013, 11 individuals traveled to France. Four people took a cruise on the Rhine River in October 2013.

Trips for the second half of 2014 include: • Luncheon and tour of Winterthur Museum’s Costumes of Downton Abbey—Oct. 17

• Two have signed up for the Southwest National Parks tour in September.

• Six individuals will be going on an Adriatic Cruise in October.

Adventures being planned for 2015 (pending final board approval on Sunday) are: • Wilson’s Customized Long Weekend in Cuba—March 11-15 (five day/four-night trip with one night in Miami and three nights in Havana); • Barging in Northern Burgundy, France—Aug. 23-29 • Canadian Rockies Parks and Resorts—Aug. 6-12 • Sicily—Sept. 25-Oct. 4 • Flavors of Northern Italy—Oct. 2-10 Watch for more information.

I was moved by Rev. Rosie Magee’s sermon at baccalaureate. We spoke after the service and I asked her if I could refer to her remarks. She agreed. If you attended, I apologize that you will hear some things again, but they are worth repeating.

Rosie spoke about community. Of course, she was referring to our community with God. I am referencing the Wilson community. St. Paul writes about how we are to love one another in community. It is easy to love in good times. It is a test of true character to love in complicated and messy times.

We can have “Wilson” written on everything we own, but it is our actions that will determine what those letters signify. Acts of kindness, compassion and generosity evoke similar responses in other people.

Acts of selfishness, animosity and indifference multiply too, as people rise and fall to the level of behavior they see in others. Do we point fingers or, do we hold hands?

Scatter seeds of kindness everywhere you go Scatter bits of courtesy Watch them grow and grow.

Regards, Mary F. Cramer ’91 President

• Eight people have reservations for Ireland in July.

summer 2014 37

ALUMNAE TRUSTEES REPORT — JUNE 2014 The Wilson College Board of Trustees met Oct. 17-19, 2013; and Feb. 20-22 and May 15-17, concluding with graduation ceremonies on May 18.

During the course of their meetings in October 2013, the Trustees participated in a retreat for strategic planning and assessment purposes that resulted in the expansion of the role of the Committee on Trusteeship to include a second “arm”—governance.

Whereas trusteeship will continue to pursue talent inventories and recruitment of candidates to the board with needed skills, governance will deal with key issues involved in governance. In addition, one ad hoc committee was formed to include alumnae relations (Mary Cramer, chair) and another, communications, was proposed. Composition of the Communications Committee has yet to be determined beyond President Barbara Mistick and Vice President for Marketing and Communications Brian Speer serving as administration representatives.

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS The board approved the formation of a faculty senate to replace the Committee of Delegates to the Board of Trustees—also known as CODBOT. Faculty senators will represent the faculty on all board committees. Vice President for Academic Affairs Elissa Heil will be a voting member of the faculty senate.

The following programs were approved by the board: Animal Studies Major Global Studies Major RN-to-BSN Program Master of Fine Arts Master of Healthcare Management for Sustainability Commencement was held on the main green on May 18 honoring 147 graduates: 2 – Master of Arts in Humanities 15 – Master of Education 33 – Bachelor of Arts 73 – Bachelor of Science 5 – Associate of Arts 1 – Associate of Science 10 – Teacher Intern (Early Childhood) 8 – Teacher Intern (Secondary)

38 wilson magazine

Honors included: 6 – Summa Cum Laude 7 – Magna Cum Laude 12 – Cum Laude 7 – Distinction In addition, five graduates were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa on May 17.

The commencement speaker was Margaret “Meg” D. Lowman, Ph.D., whose address was entitled “Sustainable Advice from a Tree.”

Lowman is chief of science and sustainability at the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, and is nicknamed the “real-life Lorax” and “Einstein of the treetops.” Lowman was selected as commencement speaker in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Fulton Center.

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS As part of the Wilson Today plan, a commitment was formed to address deferred maintenance to improve facilities relative to life safety, code compliance, academic and athletics programs, and critical infrastructure improvements. The renovations of the McElwain and Davison residence halls were completed in spring. Asbestos problems caused delays, pushing back the completion date from February. A student center space was created and the fitness center relocated. The committee looked to continue this important effort through the capital budget, which was later approved by the board.

Derck & Edson Associates, a landscape architectural and engineering firm, presented a draft “Campus Enhancement Plan” to the board in May. No action was taken.

COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT Donations for the John Stewart Memorial Library (construction of which was approved by the board in May to include costs not to exceed $12 million, with a tentative completion date of August 2015) stand at $10.2 million (as of May 15) and include two donations totaling $2.3 million from Sue Davison Cooley ’44. This entire amount was matched by the Lenfest Challenge (which was completed one year early). Funds for the library project were received from 618 donors, most of whom are alumnae/i.

As of May 15, Wilson Fund contributions totaled $635,885. Donations to the Wilson Fund are being received every day.

ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT AND STUDENT DEVELOPMENT Eric Michael, director of the Master of Education program, brought local officials and school district administrators from surrounding districts on campus with the intent of educating them about Wilson’s growing programs and superior science, equestrian and VMT programs/facilities, as well as new graduate programs. This successful initiative will help increase involvement in community relations by both the College and the surrounding communities.

Enrollment was up for the school year 2013-14. Applications and acceptances for admission are up significantly for fall. Enrollment for both of the summer sessions has exceeded expectations.

The marketing department has seen a significant increase in visibility and “impressions” (the number of times someone has “seen” Wilson College) from 1,279,287 times in 201213 to 36,184,747 to date (May 15).

FINANCE The audit for FY13 was approved. Trustees reviewed forecasts for income and expenses for FY14 and anticipate a deficit again this year. The board approved the FY15 budget and FY15 capital budget. The endowment has been managed by Solaris Advisors since September 2007, with an average return of 4.74 percent. The market value of the endowment as of May 15 is $63,739,904. Of this figure, 49 percent is represented in the quasi-endowment and 51 percent is permanently restricted for various purposes.

TRUSTEESHIP AND GOVERNANCE In May, the board re-elected the following Trustees for three-year terms: Susanna Neale Duke ’71 Phoebe Stevenson Judith Reny Stewart ’73 Nancy Washington Jill Roberts ’88 Dorothy Van Brakle ’09 (Alumna Trustee)

ASSOCIATION NEWS In May, the board elected the following new Trustees for three-year terms: Barbara Tenney ’67 Mary Jo Maydew Daniel Drawbaugh Robin J. Bernstein, Esq. Robert M. Baker In May, the board elected the following officers to serve 2014-15:

Chair—Barbara Tenney ’67 Vice Chair—Susanna Neale Duke ’71 Secretary—Judith Reny Stewart ’73 Treasurer—James A. Smeltzer, CPA The board thanked Mary Hendrickson for her accomplishments as vice president for academic affairs and sent best wishes to her in her new position. The board bid an appreciative farewell to Carolyn Perkins, vice presi-

dent for student development, and wished her well in her retirement. Mary Beth Williams was introduced and welcomed to the College as vice president for student development.

Respectfully submitted, Lisbeth Sheppard Luka ’69 Patricia W. Bennett ’68 Dorothy M. Van Brakle ’09 Alumnae Trustees

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION GIFTS PROVIDE INTERNSHIP FUNDS FOR WILSON STUDENTS

O

ver the past two years, the Alumnae Association of Wilson College’s internship gift program has awarded funds to students seeking supplemental resources to complete an internship.

• Meta Porcella ’14 of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, is working at the Veterinary Specialty Center of Seattle. Her major was VMT with minors in biology and chemistry.

In 2013, the program awarded a total of $2,200 to six students:

• Kisha Pradhan ’15 of Chambersburg—an environmental science major with a minor in biology—is completing an internship with the South Mountain Partnership of Chambersburg. The partnership works with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

• Yolanda Cabrera ’13 of Charlotte, North Carolina, a business management major, completed an internship at the United Way of Franklin County.

• Jessica Meck ’15 of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, a biology major with a psychology minor, was an intern at the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Boyd, Texas.

• Hannah Tussing ’14 of Hagerstown, Maryland, and Ashlyn Tiedemann ’14 of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, worked together at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota in Roseville for their internships. Tiedemann graduated with a degree in veterinary medical technology/pre-veterinary with minors in biology and chemistry. Tussing is a graduate of the VMT program.

• Samantha Walker ’14 of Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania, was a VMT major with a minor in business. She completed an internship with the Haskell Valley Veterinary Clinic in Olean, New York.

• Daniele Kenmure ’14 of Brick, New Jersey, a VMT graduate with a minor in business, finished an internship with the Sayrebrook Animal Hospital in Sayreville, New Jersey.

Five Wilson students are currently working as interns this summer in their related fields of study, with gifts from AAWC. One award was granted for a student to attend an off-campus conference. The AAWC has awarded $1,875 for 2014 through the program to date. Award recipients include:

• Neena Gurung ’15 of Kathmandu, Nepal, is an international studies major with a minor in fine arts. She served an internship with the Institute on Economics and International Affairs at The Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C. • Daniele Riley ’14 of James Creek, Pennsylvania, is completing an internship at Faithful Friends Veterinary Care of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. She is a VMT major with minors in biology and business.

• Sonja Hess ’15 of Bolton Landing, New York, a VMT major with minors in math and small business management, is working with Glens Falls Animal Hospital in Glens Falls, New York.

The AAWC committee has completed its 2014 Internship Gift Program funding in support of Wilson students. The association seeks to raise at least $500 to replenish the funds in order to assist future student applications. To make a restricted gift to the AAWC for ongoing support of student academic endeavors, go to www.wilson. edu/internship-gift or contact alumnae@wilson.edu for additional information. Checks may be made payable to AAWC with “Internship Gift Program” in the memo line.

— Dianna C. Heim

• Meghan Stine ’15 of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, is attending the 99th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Sacramento, California. She is a biology major.

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ASSOCIATION NEWS UPCOMING ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION TRIPS Winterthur and the “Costumes of Downton Abbey” Friday, Oct. 17—Join Wilson alumnae, family and friends for a day at Winterthur, home of Francis du Pont and one of America’s premier museums for decorative arts near Wilmington, Delaware. We will enjoy a tour of the museum and a special visit to the original exhibition “Costumes of Downton Abbey,” featuring 40 exquisite designs from the awardwinning television series. The exhibit contrasts the fictional world of Downton Abbey and the world of the du Ponts in the first half of the 20th century. Admission and lunch cost a total of $40 and the deadline for reservations is Oct. 1. To register, contact the Alumnae Association at 866-446-8660 or email aawc@wilson.edu.

TRI PS I N TH E WORKS FOR 2015 For more information about additional international trips sponsored by the Alumnae Association Tours and Travel Committee, visit wilson.edu/aatours.

March 11-15, 2015 — Wilson’s customized long weekend in Cuba will provide participants with insight on the history, culture and people of Cuba. (Minimum of 10 needed for this tour).

May 1-9, 2015 — American Queen’s Southern Culture riverboat tour from Memphis to New Orleans with Go Next.

Aug. 6-12, 2015 — Canadian Rockies Parks and Resorts with Orbridge.

Aug. 23-29, 2015 — Barging in Northern Burgundy, France, with Canal Barge Cruises.

(Minimum of 10 reservations needed by Oct. 1 to make this a customized Wilson tour).

Sept. 25-Oct. 4, 2015 — Sicily, Italy, with AHI Travel.

Oct. 2-10, 2015 — Flavors of Northern Italy at a wine estate in Verona with Orbridge.

RING IT FORWARD PROGRAM

Four graduating Wilson women received rings that were passed down from Wilson alumnae: Amanda Clever ’14, given by Judith Coleman Francis ’67; Elizabeth Heyer ’10 and ’14, given by Joan Thuebel ’52; Janelle Wills ’14, given by Sarah Wells Hill ’66; and Ashlee Yealy ’14, given by Susanne Deacon Weber ’68, whose ring belonged to her late mother, Kathryn Alice Fitch Deacon ’36.

The Alumnae Association of Wilson College is grateful for the generosity of the donors. For those who would like to “ring it forward” with a Wilson ring, donor or recipient forms may be found at www.wilson.edu/aawc on the right.

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PHOTOS BY BEN FORD

The AAWC hosted a short but meaningful presentation May 15 about the Ring It Forward Program. Intended to support the traditions of the College and foster stronger ties between Wilson alumnae and students, the program matches donated rings with current students. These legacies, in turn, “ring it forward” to a new generation of Wilson alumnae.

Front row, from left, Elizabeth Heyer ’10 and ’14, Ashlee Yealy ’14, Amanda Clever ’14 and Janelle Wills ’14. Back row, from left, Marybeth Famulare, director of alumnae/i relations and Mary Cramer ’91, president of the AAWC.

REUNION WEEKEND

—2014—

Nearly 200 alumnae and alumni along with their guests registered for Reunion Weekend, held June 6 through June 8.

The event celebrated the theme, “Proud to be Wilson,” and featured an evening picnic on the main green near Warfield Hall. A highlight of the weekend was the presentation of a check for $101,964 from the Class of 1964 to be used for the Reimaging John Stewart Memorial Library project.

On Friday, there were two alumnae/i college special sessions. A morning session led by Amy Ensley, director of the Hankey Center, was on "Making Connections: Find

out how we use the stories of Wilson alumnae to teach students about women’s history, leadership and social justice." The afternoon session featured the Rev. Abigail Rian Evans ’59 speaking on "No More Superwoman: Becoming Centered Woman."

It was the official reunion year for classes from every five years from 1949 through 2009. However, a total of 37 classes were represented at this year’s Reunion. Attendees present were from 24 states and the District of Columbia.

ALUMNAE ARRIVE ON CAMPUS

WELCOME PICNIC ON THE GREEN

summer 2014 41

STEP-SING ON NORLAND HALL PORCH

PRESIDENT BARBARA K. MISTICK GIVES HER STATE-OF-THE-COLLEGE ADDRESS

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION OF WILSON COLLEGE GENERAL MEETING

CLASS LINEUP AND PROCESSION

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ASSOCIATION NEWS

ALL-ALUMNAE LUNCHEON

CLASS DINNERS

MEMORIAL CHAPEL SERVICE

summer 2014 43

ASSOCIATION NEWS

ALUMNAE AWARDS OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNA AWARD Catherine Shaffer ’94 enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves in 1997 as an intelligence analyst and served more than eight months in Iraq in combat zones primarily in Baqubah and Ashraf. At 34, she became a Maryland State Police trooper. At Wilson, she served as president and treasurer of the College’s athletic association. She volunteers her time and money through 5K race fundraisers to help fellow troopers injured in the line of duty. She also is a supporter of the Monica H. Moon Memorial Award.

The Outstanding Young Alumna Award was established in 1989 to honor an alumna who has graduated within the last 20 years and who has brought honor to herself and to Wilson College through her intellectual and professional growth and her contributions to her community through professional or volunteer activities.

TIFT COLLEGE AWARD Nancy A. Kostas ’64, a retired schoolteacher, served on the board of the Alumnae Association of Wilson College from 2002-13 and completed a term as alumnae trustee from 2010-13. She is active in her church and community, serving as a coach and volunteer for organizations in the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, area. She also is former president of the Bethlehem Business and Professional Women’s Club. At Wilson, her activities include the Pines and Maples Society, Wilson Fund and donating to the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library project.

Marian “Mimi” Stevenson ’74, an elementary teacher in Washington, D.C., served on the board of the Alumnae Association of Wilson College from 2003-2013, including as alumnae trustee from 2006-09 and vice president from 2010-2013. She is active as a volunteer on several educational committees in Washington, D.C. She supports the performing arts and is an active leader in her church. She also is active with the Pines and Maples Society and is a Wilson Fund and chapel donor.

The Tift College Award was established in 1989 and is presented at Reunion to an alumna who has demonstrated exemplary efforts to promote the continuing growth of Wilson College. The award is in appreciation for the example and assistance given by members of the Wilson family to the alumnae of Tift College in their efforts to save their college.

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PHOTO BY DAVID YATES

FACULTY AWARD Abdolreza Banan, an economics professor awarded faculty emeritus status when he retired in 2012, received the faculty award. Due to his schedule, he will be presented with the award at Leadership Weekend Sept. 26-28.

President Barbara K. Mistick, center, with Tift College Award recipients Nancy A. Kostas ’64, left, and Marian "Mimi" Stevenson ’74 at the awards ceremony in Brooks Auditorium.

DISTINGUISHED ADP ALUMNA/ALUMNUS AWARD Maxine Lesher Gindlesperger ’98, chief administrative officer with Chambersburg project management software company eLynxx Solutions, is an active participant in Franklin County Club of Wilson College events and a supporter of local arts, social services and political fundraisers at the state and national levels. Her work in the Chambersburg community is credited with helping to strengthen Wilson’s bond with the town. She also is a Wilson Fund supporter.

The Distinguished Adult Degree Program Alumna/Alumnus Award was established in 2012 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Adult Degree Program.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA AWARD Linda Kaley Erkelens ’64 created a friendly, environmentally conscious community through her work as owner of three apartment buildings in San Francisco. She was featured in the San Francisco Apartment Magazine, Department of the Environment Bulletin and on local television. At Wilson, she has supported many of the College’s campaigns, including the Harry R. Brooks Complex and Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library. She also is active with the Pines and Maples Society and the Wilson Fund.

The Distinguished Alumna Award was established in 1983 to honor an alumna who has distinguished herself in her professional or volunteer career and who has shown continuing service, interest and support in the growth and quality of Wilson College. She must have demonstrated service to the College that spans a period of at least five to 10 years.

Class of 1949 — Front row, from left: Ernestine “Blossom” Hoff, Anne Pearce Lehman and Martha “Marty” Bare Buckey. Second row, from left: Jo Ann “Jody” Smith Dittmann, Julia Anne “Jolacey” Lacey Brown and Frances “Fran” Dickson Shaw.

Class of 1954 — Front row, from left: Elisabeth “Betsy” Phillips Henifin, Alice “Beth” Barnhart Andersen, Grace Rogers Brown, Eleanor “Ellie” Stiles Dumdi and Nancy Spicer Reilly. Second row, from left: Sidney Johnstone Harvey, Millicent Van Dyke MacKeith, Barbara “Barb” Lewis Saxton, Betsy Zoller Ayer and Martha Evosevic Lazarevic.

Class of 1959 — Front row, from left: Rose Gish Gerke, Betty Miller Upperman and Jane Taylor Fox. Second row, from left: Ann Young Collins, Elizabeth “Liz” Van Dyke McDowell and Abigail Rian Evans.

Third row, from left: Barbara Conover. Fourth row, from left: Eleanor “Ellie” Kern Buff, Carol Chamberlain Heller and Barbara Maxwell. Fifth row, from left: Katharine “Kathy” Ring Shepherd.

Class of 1964 — First row sitting, from left: Ellen Robinson Chack, Louisa “Lou” Cowles, Susan Wood Schuchts, Lisa Malmquist Dyslin, Julia “Julie” Solleveld Osborne, Valerie Oakley and Rita Handwerk Fisk. Second row, from left: Pamela “Pam” Nichols Shumway, Elizabeth “Betsy” Hanning Diely, Carol-Jean Russell McGreevy-Morales, Elizabeth “Betty” Wade Siegel, Nancy Appleby Willis, Bonnie Mercer Cohn, Margaret “Peggy” Guilmette Turgeon, Carole Davis, Susan “Sue” Moore Jones and Judith “Judy” Wescott Vogel. Third row, from left: Nancy Kostas, Peggy Kauffman Hyde, Judith “Judy” Agerton Petersen, Bonnie Ashby, Billie Pananes Rorres, Phyllis Haberern McCullough, Jane Saunders Davis, Mary “M.C.” Cheston Wilheit and Christine “Chris” Larsen Carmichael. Fourth row, from left: Doris Warman Eddins, Linda Kaley Erkelens, Barbara “Barb” Werner, Mary “Mollie” Clark Pratt, Margaret Cross Perkins, Elsa Berring Burrowes and Ann Langton Arnold. Fifth row, from left: Lynne Witte Palmer, Jane Wallace Alling, Carol Schaaf Heppner, Shirley Funk Mason, Patricia “Pat” Michener Bower, Jane “JP” Preston Rose, Cheryl “Cherie” Churchill Reeve, Johanna Hayssen Macdonald and Martha Spendlove Strohl.

Class of 1969 — From left: Elizabeth “Beth” Ashby Mitchell, Jacqueline “Jacie” Elder Murren, Sharon Veach and Bonnie Brindley Morris.

summer 2014 45

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Class of 1974 — Front row, from left: Linda Krach, Marian “Mimi” Stevenson and Ann “Evie” Evans. Second row, from left: Susan “Soo” Gunn Bromley. Third row, from left: Patricia “Pat” Darras Hockenberry, Anne Walsh Black and Karen Elrod Staines. Fourth row, from left: Lynne DiStasio, Susan Aiken Vezzetti and Suzanne “Sue” Clark Pranke. Fifth row, from left: Cynthia “Cindy” Hanna DeLong and Ann “Nan” Rhoads Littleton ’76. Sixth row, from left: René Fox Manker, Veronica Boda and Judith “Judy” Coen Grove. Seventh row, from left: David DeBevoise, Jill Ross ’75 and Kathryn “Kathy” Kelley Karns.

Class of 1989 — From left: Karen “Ringo” Wright Lowry ’87, Suzi Stahley Delarnoux, Tinka Berger, Mary Catherine Nicolette Keating, Jennifer Evans, Jessica Collins Daigle and Lisa Panichella Como.

Class of 1994 — From left: Adrienne Holley, M. Samantha “Sam” Ainuddin and Lori Fedorczyk.

Class of 1979 — From left: Lynn Feliziani, Janet Serdy, Audrey Sharp, Cheryl Bauman Bock, Marjorie Halpine Kelly, Sarabel Ryan Conn, Arilda Elskus Densch and Cecelia Elder Weber.

Class of 1984 — From left: Mary Snider Boldt, Julie Fensterer Traum and Robin Halpine Coroniti.

Class of 2004/2009 — From left: Sarah Shetter Conover ’09 and Lisa Havilland ’04.

Class of 1999 was not available to be photographed. Photos by Pictures Plus.

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— last —

word

THE BETTER ZOMBIES

OF OUR NATURE

I

began my term as editor-in-chief of the Billboard feeling nervous and intimidated. Two weeks before the semester began, I had a nightmare. All of my fears surrounding my upcoming role as editor materialized into a frenzied dreamscape, with the newsroom transformed into an obstacle course and my staff members turned into little more than mindless zombies, eating away at the creativity and productiveness of my efforts. In my nightmare, I felt panic as I realized the printer was out of paper and no one could find more to refill it. Time became my enemy and deadlines pushed my blood pressure to a boiling point. I woke in a sweat.

PHOTO BY MATTHEW LESTER

I had good reason to worry about my new job. I worked on the Billboard as a reporter for two semesters prior to earning the position of editor-in-chief and I knew well the difficulties of producing our newspaper. Wilson’s community is small, but active. In addition to the numerous social events that occur throughout the semester, many academic events qualify as news and require coverage by the Billboard. As a single parent and a student with a full-time job, I knew the workload would be heavy and the fear of me buckling under its weight clearly inspired my nightmare. My anxieties about the responsibilities of the editorship were made more severe by the fact that the Billboard is understaffed. Most students join other clubs that require less of a commitment rather than work for their student newspaper.

I can only speculate about the symbolism of the staff as zombies in my nightmare. I recognized that the Billboard functions through a team effort and that I was the captain. Maybe the zombies represented my fears of being an ineffective leader, one whose followers were left directionless and forced to meander mindlessly, searching for their stories. Or maybe I was worried that they would recognize my weaknesses and devour me, starting with my insufficient brain!

The semester ended and I survived the editorship. I didn’t have a stroke or lose my brain to the undead. In fact, I would now say that I am better off for the experience.

I learned how to become a taskmaster and I developed excellent time management skills. I also learned how to manage people and how to lead them in both long-term and short-term goals.

My staff was dedicated with like-minded goals for the newspaper. Each member brought something valuable and unique to the newsroom. They were not the mindless zombies I feared would steal the life from me and the Billboard. They were the creative energy that enabled the Billboard to thrive as a student-run publication and for me to thrive as its editor.

My nightmare turned out to be, in reality, a dream-come-true. Being editor-in-chief was hard work, but it was also fun. Although deadlines loomed for each edition, the satisfaction of the finished product was a great motivator for everyone to work tirelessly to get each edition published. The Billboard will have a new editor-in-chief and a new staff this coming semester. Let’s support them in the pursuit of their dreams.

Lesley Eichelberger

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SAVE THE

DATE

FALL LEADERSHIP WEEKEND-ALL WELCOME! ACTIVITIES PLANNED THURSDAY—SUNDAY, SEPT. 25-28 Watch for more information coming in the monthly e-news and online.

REUNION 2015, JUNE 5-7, 2015 CLASS YEARS ENDING 0 & 5 Contact the Office of Alumnae/i Relations or the Alumnae Association of Wilson College alumnae@wilson.edu or AAWC@wilson.edu

1015 Philadelphia Ave. Chambersburg, PA 17201-1285

Sage Advice from Class of 1947’s Elizabeth Hudnut Clarkson’s Bestselling Guide Book Still Rings True. Story on Page 10.