by Kate Wright
Your class is the group of people that will follow you all through your college career. I remember sitting in Jewett during step sing practice during my welcome week and thinking, these are the people I will graduate with. Some of us will leave, some of us will be best friends, some of us will have a great time, some of us a hard time, some of us will barely make it all the way.
Just as the fate of each freshman will vary, her experience will be affected by the overall personality of her class. Each class buys into the Judson culture in a different way. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Kayla Oliver (3rd floor Kirtley RA), her roommate Megan Matthews, and Kirtley RD Sarah Fowler. All of these ladies have spent the past several years living in Kirtley, watching the freshman classes come and go, and I asked them to speak to me about the personality of each class.
The current freshmen are primarily athletes, which is dominating the dorm somewhat. The quieter minority are living on first floor, Kayla and Megan’s “crazy” freshmen are on third, and second floor seems to be a mix. Kayla and Megan agreed that while this year’s class doesn’t necessarily need the upperclassmen, they want them in their lives. As Kayla was discussing this, a freshman burst into the lobby to have Kayla greet a classmate on Snapchat video chat, underlining her point.
Kayla and Megan remember the current Jr-Sophs as being very independent freshmen, primarily staying in their rooms and living their own lives. Hopefully their self-reliance will serve them well as they go through this year’s traditions. The third-years, on the other hand (my class), had some who struggled with transitioning into college life—broken washers may have come up in conversation. Luckily, we have hit our stride, I hope, and taken root in Marion. Katlin Bailey, our class sponsor said one of the things she enjoyed most about the third-years was “watching their service-oriented hearts flourish in our community.”
Both Megan and Kayla are fourth-years, and they reminisced a bit about their own freshman days. They admitted to being a “wild” class, and remembered times when Lorna Wikle would ride a scooter down the hall on second floor.
I asked Sarah Fowler specifically about the class that just graduated, which was tight-knit and involved in many campus activities. Upon some reflection, she said part of the reason may have been that their class saw many improvements on campus and the 175th anniversary activities, and that it may have given them something to be a part of. Maybe that can be a challenge for all of us—to get to know our class a little better and to be a part of the growth of this campus, within both the Judson and Marion communities.