This weekend has been a strange mix of happy nostalgia and sadness. It was Alumnae Weekend at my school. This year wasn’t a big reunion year for my class so i didn’t go but a lot of my friends were in the class above me so it was both exciting to see their pictures and sad not to be there celebrating with them.
When i was in high school and looking for a college i spent hours looking at brochures marking things that i liked and didn’t like. i knew i wanted a school with a creative writing program, not just english. i also had a requirement that i could not go to school in the cornfield or in the bordering states. When it came down to it i found two schools that seemed like they would be a good fit. One in Georgia and one in Arizona. i was really drawn to the one in Georgia because they mentioned having a Campus Girl Scout group. i ended up going on vacation to Orlando and being able to stop at the school in Georgia on the way home. As soon as i walked onto campus i knew i had to go to that school.
i only applied to Agnes Scott. i decided if i didn’t get in i would take a year off and apply again because i just knew that was where i needed to be. Everyone thought i was crazy. No one understood why i didn’t have a fall back school. i was putting all of my hope into one very small competitive school. And on top of that it was a women’s college. i thought that was awesome. i loved the idea of being surrounded by intelligent women from all over and getting an amazing education. It was sort of like camp but with books. However, people have a lot of misconceptions about women’s colleges. i didn’t care about any of it though. i needed that school in my life.
i got in. And i went to school. i remember a sort of electric tingly feeling when it was my turn to sign the Honor Code. And that same feeling my sophomore year when i got my ring (we have a tradition called Sophomore Family Weekend where we get our class rings, they are all the same – aside from a few choices you get about size and gold color. When you get your ring you have the script facing you and when you graduate you turn your ring around so it faces the world. Generations of alums have this ring. It is a remarkably powerful symbol that enables us to recognize each other and share in something almost indescribable that only Scotties understand.) i was finally challenged in my classes and i loved it. Of course i got frustrated and threw pencils across the room occasionally but it was amazing to sit in classrooms with so few people and be able to actually discuss things. It was even more amazing to leave the classroom and continue those discussions.
i met some of the best people in my life at school. These are people who have seen me through the highs and the lows and have never faltered in their support and love for me. These are people who understood why it was more important to have an impromptu hair dye/ dance party than it was to read another chapter sometimes. These are people who challenged me intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, socially, and in every other way possible.
So in honor of all of those amazing people and my incredible experience at school i thought i would share some of my favorite school memories.
We don’t have homecoming at my school but we have Black Cat which is even better. There are events all week long, each class is a different color and has a different mascot. Each year there are different chairs for positions in Black Cat; songs, costumes, decorations, etc. My first year i didn’t go to our initial Black Cat meeting for some reason but i was nominated for and then won Costumes Chair. It was overwhelming and exhausting but i loved it.
Another big part of Black Cat is Junior Production. i was crazy and lucky enough to be the head writer, editor, and co-director. Junior Production is like a play that is put on for the students, faculty, and staff that sums up and satirizes your experience thus far at school. It was incredible and the people i had writing with me were awesome and understood how to write humor without hurting people. When we were at rehearsals i would run around like a chicken and demonstrate how scenes should look or lines needed to be said- i talked more to my classmates there than i had ever spoken in class and i got to know people that i i was only acquaintances with before that.
i had a super awesome co-RA my sophomore year. We called each other Cow which most people thought was horrible but we understood. One day i was gone somewhere and she printed out all these pictures of cows and put them all around my room (i have one on my collage table still.) We also tried to defrost the fridge with hammers and blow dryers, tied towels around our necks, and made signs that said Super RA. And one of my all time favorite school memories was when we decided to have our floor start composting. We soon realized that we didn’t have a place to put the compost and tried to decide what to do. For whatever reason we thought the best idea was to dress in black and take the compost to the woods behind the school president’s house and bury it. So we did, sorry MBB.
One of my favorite people in the world understands me in a weird way that a lot of people don’t. She would come to my room and tuck me in when i was having a hard time sleeping or with life. She would tell me good night in Croatian. After my sophomore year we were roommates for a short while for the summer. At one point i scratched my cornea and got pink eye at the same time and was stuck in my loft bed miserable. She climbed into her loft and we read each other Trivial Pursuit questions for a long time and i forgot about how much pain i was in.
Raiding each other’s closets and dressing each other up in clothes we wouldn’t normally wear to go to the book store and learn how to twan-flirt.
MOH and i would lay on the sidewalk outside our dorm with our arms in the air (try it sometime it feels awesome and if you are like most people i’ve convinced to try this you’ll be amazed at how your arms never seem to get tired) talking and looking for tummies in the sky all while greeting people who walked by us.
So many Target trips. And the thrill of the first time we experienced the two story Target.
Park trips. Playing in the mud until we were covered while it was raining. My best friend bringing home bamboo to make her room more like a jungle (we’re not talking the little plants you can buy, this was full grown and took multiple people to carry back.)
Sitting outside the writing center at maybe 2 in the morning discussing the final paper we should be working on.
Dressing like a pirate for my fencing final.
Falling asleep watching Jeopardy and waking up to a breaking news story of a man in a tree.
Having my professors ask me what color my hair would be for graduation. And then having our President compliment the Chucks i bought especially for the occasion.
Hair dye parties!
DPS
Tackle Frisbee
i could keep going all night but i won’t. i really hope that everyone can find an environment that can support, challenge, and nurture them the way ASC did for me. Even if it isn’t a school. Love to all of my Scottie sisters and professors and staff. Thank you for helping and guiding me on the way to being me.
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