Washington and Lee University
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
Majors: Philosophy and Business Administration
Extracurricular Involvement:
Off-Campus Experiences (internships, study abroad): London School of Economics Study Abroad, Summer 2009
Favorite Class: PHIL 222: Aristotle - It was incredibly interesting to me to go so in depth into one philosopher's work. I also thought it was amazing how many things Aristotle got right, even over 2000 years ago.
Favorite W&L Activity/Event: The Freshman BBQ at the Ruins
When I chose W&L three years ago, I wasn't able to pinpoint exactly what drew me to this school. I just knew that I got a good feeling when I stepped on campus; I knew that there was a quality about the students at Washington and Lee that I wanted to claim for my own. Now at the beginning of my junior year here, I can best describe what I saw three years ago as an openness to new things, a general affinity for jumping right in and getting your hands dirty.
I see this quality every day on the athletic field, as I play both field hockey and lacrosse here. As early as preseason field hockey my freshman year, I saw that everyone went whole-heartedly into practice and preparation, so it was only natural that I follow suit. It was not that everyone on my team was in the best shape or had no room for improvement in their skills. It was that they were unreservedly committed to the team and what the team was doing. In the past two years, both field hockey and lacrosse have gone through some ups and downs, but the devotion to the cause, the willingness to analyze and improve, has never wavered. Now as captain of both sports, I try to instill this same quality in the incoming freshmen as I felt coming to W&L.
Off the field hockey and lacrosse fields, I see this same openness everywhere on campus. This quality translates to adapting to new situations and figuring out what works and what doesn't. I have learned that being a General isn't always about doing the right thing the first time around; it's about getting it right in the end. When I became treasurer of my sorority last winter, I bit off a little more than I could chew. I had very little experience in accounting or finance at that point, and the previous treasurer was abroad and unable to help me. Learning how to do that job well, even while making many mistakes along the way, has been a very valuable learning experience that I will take with me into the real world after college. This school isn't about everyone knowing it all, it is about giving everyone the opportunity to mess around and work it out.
In my classes, the professors have also encouraged me to ‘jump right in.' I was completely unsure coming into college what I wanted to major in, and even more unsure after my freshman year. I took a bunch of different classes during my first two years, trying a little of this, a little of that. I considered majoring in French, journalism and mass communications before I settled on a double major in philosophy and business administration. It was the school's willingness to let me fumble around for a while that allowed me to find areas of study in which I was really interested. I would never have discovered my love for philosophy had my freshman advisor not told me to try something new.
A desire to tackle new challenges is a tradition at W&L, one of the many that characterize this school. I hope that I take all of Washington and Lee's traditions with me, but especially this one. Because of my experience here so far, I will never underestimate the value of learning by doing.
