Spring break. The words sound like bells ringing to students as they plan an entire week of activities with one major goal: having fun! At Warren Wilson, some students achieved this by going home; others made pocket money by working on campus. Five service-learning trips also went out to various locations. Here are spring-break notes from a few Warren Wilson students….
Emma Frappier woke up at 6 a.m. each day to work on the college farm. She burned brush piles, collected eggs, milked and helped manage more than 60 beef cows and their calves.
Matt Williams of Vermont and John Wright of New Hampshire both boiled sap to make maple syrup. They’re having a tasting contest to settle once and for all which state produces the ultimate syrup.
Emily Shanblatt hiked solo for 3½ days on North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail, starting at 6,643-foot-high Clingmans Dome.
Mandy Monroe and Chelsea Maier led a service trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. Their group of 12 swung Pulaskis and dug water bars to improve the Appalachian Trail.
Kevin Lane and Brian Hill ran a 50K race, in Charlottesville, Va. Lane placed second, right between WWC counselor Ann Lundblad in third and her husband Mark in first. Swannanoa swept the race!
Tessa Currie brought some friends to her aunt’s Welsh pony farm in Arkansas. They mucked out barns, trimmed a giant holly maze and survived a 25-year flood.
Rachel Hawkins worked on the Admission Crew and gave 10 tours to prospective students who all arrived on time.
Lizzy Doyle and Vanessa Emery were humiliated on television when a local reporter, from ABC News 13, asked them on the streets of Asheville why they weren’t inside watching the basketball game. “What game?” they replied.
Compiled by sophomore Vanessa Emery.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
People at Wilson
People at Wilson tend to have done amazing things (and, of course, we’re all sure to do a lot more). One of my closest friends here on campus spent a year after high school WWOOFing in Italy, practicing sustainable agriculture on a farm. Another spent nine months in Americorps, traveling around the United States doing service. So when Debra from the Service Learning Office asked me to give a tour to ten students and two faculty members from University of Louisville on a spring break service trip (some of them Bonner Scholars), I figured they would be cool people. Wilson only attracts the best in not only students and faculty, but also visitors (just go contra dancing some Thursday and talk to a stranger - you’ll understand). These students, however, exceeded my expectations.
After taking the group on my largest tour thus far (and probably one of my most entertaining – it involved tree climbing), one of the perks of my job here in Admissions kicked in. They liked me, I liked them, and I was invited out for hiking and tacos.
Now, it’s midterm week. My Spanish oral exam was the next morning, and I had had no prior intention of going anywhere that evening. But let’s be serious – who turns down hiking and tacos? So to Montreat I went.
Montreat is a town / college / conference center about twenty minutes from Asheville. It’s set in between a few mountains and features unusual rental houses, shops, and is right by the quirky town of Black Mountain. I usually go hiking with my friends along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, but I must admit that Montreat was stunning. We arrived at the top of the mountain right as the sun was falling in the sky, and streaks of blue, purple, and red painted the sky. As we sat on a craggy cliff looking out over the Appalachians, I never felt more proud of the place that I call home. Nothing is more fulfilling that sharing a place you love with friends.
There are times in my life when I meet people who belong in Appalachia, and specifically Swannanoa, and don’t know it yet. These people were certainly Wilson students mistakenly living in Kentucky. To clarify: There was a boy in plaid flannel. We discussed corn subsidies, factory farming, the meat industry, and other reasons to eat local. Everyone helped with dinner. There was singing and a guitar, and we made it all the way through Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel (at full volume, no less), the song that always seems to come up at Wilson events.
I have the smells of garlic and sweet earth in my mind, a song in my heart, and gratitude for the opportunities Wilson tosses into my path (she’s not a subtle one). She may not give you what you expect every time, but she always sends you where you need to go.
Michelle
http://www.wwoof.org/
http://www.americorps.org/
http://www.bonner.org/campus/bsp/home.htm
After taking the group on my largest tour thus far (and probably one of my most entertaining – it involved tree climbing), one of the perks of my job here in Admissions kicked in. They liked me, I liked them, and I was invited out for hiking and tacos.
Now, it’s midterm week. My Spanish oral exam was the next morning, and I had had no prior intention of going anywhere that evening. But let’s be serious – who turns down hiking and tacos? So to Montreat I went.
Montreat is a town / college / conference center about twenty minutes from Asheville. It’s set in between a few mountains and features unusual rental houses, shops, and is right by the quirky town of Black Mountain. I usually go hiking with my friends along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, but I must admit that Montreat was stunning. We arrived at the top of the mountain right as the sun was falling in the sky, and streaks of blue, purple, and red painted the sky. As we sat on a craggy cliff looking out over the Appalachians, I never felt more proud of the place that I call home. Nothing is more fulfilling that sharing a place you love with friends.
There are times in my life when I meet people who belong in Appalachia, and specifically Swannanoa, and don’t know it yet. These people were certainly Wilson students mistakenly living in Kentucky. To clarify: There was a boy in plaid flannel. We discussed corn subsidies, factory farming, the meat industry, and other reasons to eat local. Everyone helped with dinner. There was singing and a guitar, and we made it all the way through Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel (at full volume, no less), the song that always seems to come up at Wilson events.
I have the smells of garlic and sweet earth in my mind, a song in my heart, and gratitude for the opportunities Wilson tosses into my path (she’s not a subtle one). She may not give you what you expect every time, but she always sends you where you need to go.
Michelle
http://www.wwoof.org/
http://www.americorps.org/
http://www.bonner.org/campus/bsp/home.htm
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Power Vacuums!
With just under a week until spring break, things at Warren Wilson are getting a bit hectic and the student body is beginning to show the telltale signs of ware. My nights are becoming later and later and my room smells like a coffee shop. Midterms are this week; I have four essays, a portfolio, and a project to complete before next Friday.Even with midterm insanity setting in, over one hundred students attended a student caucus hosted question and answer session with our president. The meeting took place in the Sage Café and last about an hour and a half. Our president, Sandy Pfeiffer, is a new addition to the campus and some students question his plans for the future of Wilson. Rumors had it the Sandy planned to double or triple the student population. Fears that this supposed expansion would turn Warren Wilson College into a run of the mill, mainstream, learning institution had many people upset.
Students began to trickle into the Café at about 6:45 and by 7pm there was only standing room available. The meeting commenced when Sandy entered the Café and took a seat among the Caucus members. Tension filled the room. A heated debate was expected.
As students began to ask questions, Sandy eased our fears. No such plans for expansion existed. He was adamant about keeping our little college just that - little. Through the course of the meeting, Sandy agreed to eat lunch at least once a week with the students in the cafeteria, provide more vacuum cleaners for dorms, and continue attending student caucus meetings every three weeks.
Cait
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