WWCasheville: Rona Jaffe Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Creative Writing established at Warren Wilson's MFA Program for Writers: http://bit.ly/asX8ME
Wednesday, September 1st 2010
WWCasheville: Listen to a "State of Belief" interview with WWC professor Mallory McDuff about the religious environmental movement: http://bit.ly/9rMARJ
Wednesday, September 1st 2010
WWCasheville: WWC's MFA Program for Writers ties for Poets & Writers' No. 1 ranking among 46 low-residency programs nationwide: http://bit.ly/acVBrE
Tuesday, August 24th 2010
WWCasheville: Laura Newbern, Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers alumna, is a winner of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards: http://bit.ly/dn651m
Tuesday, August 24th 2010
Friday, August 27th 2010
My expectations of college before I actually got here was that it is cold and institutionalized. I also had the eerie expectation that during the transition to college I would feel alone and like a stranger among new faces and new buildings. The expectation that I had of the work program was a negative one due to a previously bad experience as a computer technician that I had for a year and a half during high school. Included in that negative expectation were some concerns about having to create a relationship with the work crew. Living in my home town and seeing people say one thing and do another left me questioning “Can a college actually practice what it preaches?” or is it just a bunch of talk to justify not following what they preach?
In reality Warren Wilson is much more than I could have ever expected.
The atmosphere is friendly and full of people who are willing to help with anything that is needed. All you have to do is ask. I never expected that any “American” college would be so open and excepting of so many people of different races, creeds, beliefs, cultures, and backgrounds. It is such a great feeling to be accepted as who you are and for your skills rather than the pre-constructed norm that society imposes on us from the time we are born. Also “Camp Wilson” is a lot more like a “summer camp” that I would have ever expected, but I know that the pace is about to be quickened and that summer camp feeling is about to disappear.
The transition from high school to college has been much easier than I ever expected due to the ability to share ideas freely and openly without the worry of being judged. The transition was also helped along by the fact that things shared in a peer group are done with a certain level of confidence that increases as the bonds forged get stronger.
Work. The work crew assignments although may not be what you were hoping for will probably be a good fit after we are able to adjust to the somewhat random order of the assignments. I like working. I’m just not fond of workplace politics.
It was refreshing to have my expectations shattered when it came to seeing how Warren Wilson practices what it preaches. I’m glad to see for the most part the staff and students pitching in to help “walk the walk” instead of just talking. One good example is service day 2010, in which the freshmen peer groups went out to local community gardens to help give notice to the issue of food insecurity. This is also a way of giving back to the community that helped to start the college. Another area that Warren Wilson practices what it preaches is in using bio-fuels to power almost all of the vehicles used on campus. Giving back to a community can be a very rewarding experience, because it allows a younger generation to see that there is more to life than computers and technology.
All in all college is what you make of it, that means not being hold-up in your room on your computer but experiencing all of what Warren Wilson has to offer.
