{"id":5822,"date":"2015-02-13T14:19:55","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T19:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/?p=5822"},"modified":"2015-02-13T14:57:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T19:57:58","slug":"building-confidence-and-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/building-confidence-and-character\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Confidence and Character"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a wide-ranging discussion last November about the benefits of attending a women\u2019s college, six students talked about leadership, internships, travel, study, and how to prepare for the future.<\/h4>\n

\"divider\"<\/h4>\n

The women\u2019s college choice<\/h3>\n
\"Georden

Georden West ’15<\/p><\/div>\n

Georden West<\/strong>
\nMy mom went to Mary Baldwin, and my dad went to VMI while it was still single sex, so going to a single-sex institution was a tradition in my family. I knew I wanted to pursue something that would be highly competitive also. So I was looking at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Mills, and I happened to come across Hollins while I was in Virginia touring Mary Baldwin and VMI. Being on campus during the Batten competition weekend was what really solidified that this was the best choice for me\u2014the one with the most leadership opportunities, where I would be able to work with other women, and women would hold the leadership roles and decide what the community culture was.<\/p>\n

Tegan Harcourt<\/strong>
\nI was not initially looking for a women\u2019s college. I was homeschooled throughout my high school years, and I was co-enrolled at a community college junior and senior years. When I started looking at schools, one of the big schools near me was Bryn Mawr, and I really, really loved it. And then I kept looking at all these coed schools and I didn\u2019t see that community and involvement I wanted. So I started looking at women\u2019s colleges and said, \u201cWell, maybe this is the key to what is going to make me happy.\u201d And I finally found Hollins, and it was definitely the place.<\/p>\n

Chanice Holmes<\/strong>
\nI was not looking for a women\u2019s college. I think it was more, do I want to go to this big university, a state school, or do I want to go to a smaller private institution? Once I looked at Spelman College, I thought that maybe [single sex] was a factor. Because now that I\u2019m here and looking at the differences with my friend, who ended up choosing a state university, I see we don\u2019t have the same interactions with other women on this campus. I can relax and really be who I am. And it\u2019s empowering to be myself.<\/p>\n

Lydia Price<\/strong>
\nI did not want a women\u2019s college. I actually, like actively, did not want a women\u2019s college. I came to Hollinsummer because my English teacher recommended it to me for creative writing. So I came up here and [found] the emphasis was performance on the academic side. I really loved that.<\/p>\n

Beth Winslow<\/strong>
\nI wasn\u2019t looking for a women\u2019s college at all. One of my high school Spanish teachers is an alum, and she was like, \u201cJust try it.\u201d When we walked on the Hollins campus and took the campus tour, I fell in love with it\u2014just seeing how enthusiastic the tour guides were and how they talked to literally every person that walked by. When I met Dr. Wilson and Dean Beach in the biology department, I was sold, completely sold.<\/p>\n

Suprima Bhele<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m a first-generation college student, so my parents didn\u2019t really have any say in what I had to do. It was completely in my hands to look for a college, and I didn\u2019t really care if it was coed or single sex. At first the pictures spoke to me: women having conversations with each other. I went to YouTube and subscribed to the Hollins channel and watched videos of how students were portrayed. I could see women performing every duty, whereas in my country we were told [those roles] were for men. I felt that this could be a place where I could grow out of those traditions that were forged in me since I was really small. And I\u2019m really proud of my decision.<\/p>\n

\"divider\"<\/h4>\n

Leadership opportunities<\/h3>\n
\"Elizabeth

Elizabeth “Beth” Winslow ’15, Chesapeake, Virginia; Biology major, chemistry minor<\/p><\/div>\n

Winslow<\/strong>
\nI was not involved in student government when I was in high school. I never expected to be involved in any kind of leadership position throughout college. After Maggie Dwyer [\u201914] and the rest of the appointment board approached me last year to ask me to be club coordinator, my response was: Why didn\u2019t I do this sooner? One of the professors who interviewed me [last fall for pharmacy school] said, \u201cIf you come here, why don\u2019t you run for first-year class president for the pharmacy school? We\u2019ve never had a woman as first-year class president. It\u2019s always been men.\u201d Which is very interesting, since 75 percent of that program is women.<\/p>\n

West<\/strong>
\nLeadership opportunities here are vast. Students are graduating with the two years of work experience that most jobs require. You\u2019re fundraising, you\u2019re planning your own event, you\u2019re developing donor bases, you\u2019re doing some foundational work that prepares you for the workforce in a way that\u2014when [you graduate]\u2014really alleviates that tension, that fear, that pressure, put on students who didn\u2019t have those opportunities.<\/p>\n

SGA started a program called Student Leader of the Week where we try to recognize different people on campus who might not be holding titles but are actively engaged in the campus community in a dynamic and exceptional way. I have seen such intelligent women who have been in classes with me who have really challenged what I thought and given me a new perspective. So leadership is everywhere.<\/p>\n

\"divider\"<\/h4>\n

How has Hollins changed you?<\/h3>\n

Price<\/strong>
\nYou definitely have a chance and an expectation that you will grow. [My parents] say that the daughter we sent to school is now a woman, a more dynamic person than when she first came here from high school.<\/p>\n

Winslow<\/strong>
\nI am definitely seen as a quantitative reasoning tutor. I\u2019m seen as a science person who spends most of her time in Dana. But you can find me in another academic building on campus and nobody is shocked. I don\u2019t think anybody can be put into boxes here, and my friend group includes people from all over the campus.<\/p>\n

\"Suprima

Suprima Bhele ’16 Nepal; studio art and mathematics double major<\/p><\/div>\n

Bhele<\/strong>
\nWhen I was choosing to do studio art and I was trying to do Batten Leadership, for example, no one said, \u201cOh you\u2019re an artist, why are you doing math and why are you doing leadership?\u201d They encouraged me. At Hollins, leadership is not about taking on positions for [the sake of] positions. It is more about doing active leadership [in every area of your campus life].<\/p>\n

Winslow<\/strong>
\n[What\u2019s different about me now] is the level of confidence my pharmacy school interviewers saw in me. [Hollins is] definitely a place where I can learn, practice, get it wrong, and not be judged or punished for it.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chanice Holmes \u201915, New Orleans, Louisiana; dance major, psychology minor<\/p><\/div>\n

Holmes
\n<\/strong>We are building character here. We come in with some values and beliefs, but they\u2019re shaped as we grow here. I think women shy away from conflict; they are fearful of conflict and I think here that\u2019s not the case. We\u2019ve learned that effective conflict is good.<\/p>\n

West<\/strong>
\nHollins women are the only people I have ever experienced who think that conflict is good. In my male relationships, in my female relationships, in my family relationships, no. Here we learn how to navigate difficult conversations no matter where we are. Chanice and I may really have it out in a classroom, and walk away laughing. And I\u2019ve never seen that anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\"divider\"<\/h4>\n

Highlights of your Hollins experience<\/h3>\n

Holmes<\/strong>
\nThe first thing that comes to mind is the Jamaica Cultural Immersion program that I have done three years now. [I have loved] going to Jamaica and being immersed in their culture and bringing my culture to them.<\/p>\n

Price<\/strong>
\nThe first really powerful moment for me was the very first C3. I networked with an alumna, and it turned into an internship. She couldn\u2019t get it [set up] that J-Term but she remembered me and got it all put together for the next year. So a year and a half later, she was still thinking about me. Doing that internship was phenomenal. I went to Vero Beach, Florida, by myself, and I remember driving away from my house in Alabama and thinking, I\u2019m on my own. I\u2019m going to go do this. I\u2019m going to go live by myself. I don\u2019t know the people who I\u2019m staying with, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s about to happen, and it was so cool. And I came back so much more confident than I had been before.<\/p>\n

West<\/strong>
\nSGA changed my life. I was held accountable by my peers who had voted for me. [West is SGA president.] Learning how to navigate fair representation was also something really instrumental to the way I perceive so many different things now. Getting to work with amazing young women who want the best for their community is inspiring on a daily basis. Getting to practice everything I\u2019m learning in BLI [Batten Leadership Institute] and getting to see how that plays out in a team dynamic\u2014the way we handle conflict, the way we resolve conflict\u2014have been really instrumental to me in being excited about entering the workplace rather than afraid of it.<\/p>\n

\"Georden

Left: Georden West ’15, Denver, Colorado; film major, history minor. Right: Tegan Harcourt ’17, Arden, Delaware; international business major, Spanish minor<\/p><\/div>\n

Harcourt<\/strong>
\nOne example is when I first thought about running for first-year class president. I\u2019d done leadership things in my life, but I never really thought about me being the leader. And when people [suggested that I run for] first-year class president, it really took a step for me to realize how I could do that. My second experience was going to Spain for January my first year. I took my first plane ride by myself, with three different connections. I was really not sure if I could do it. I said, \u201cWell, who else is going to do it?\u201d And I\u2019m planning to go back!<\/p>\n

Winslow<\/strong>
\nMy internship from last January was a highlight. I have been a pharmacy technician for two and a half years, and I interned at a compounding pharmacy in Richmond. The first day they trained me, and since I had a tech license, they [gave me free rein]. I took over pain medications and scar creams for the entire month of January, which was awesome. Being immersed in it for a month solidified that pharmacy was what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Bhele<\/strong>
\nBeing with my friendship family. My friendship mom is a schoolteacher at Read Mountain Middle School. She arranged a program where I could speak to the kids and the teachers. Being able to introduce my culture to them and seeing how curious they were was just such a good experience.<\/p>\n

\"divider\"<\/h4>\n

How has Hollins prepared you for the next step?<\/h3>\n

Holmes<\/strong>
\nI worked with a team of people at the National Dance Institute [in New York City] during the competitive internship I got through the Career Center. Working there offered a new perspective. It prepared me in this sense: that I know who I am, and I feel like I can take on anything. Like getting lost in New York was fine with me because I knew I was going to find my way.<\/p>\n

West<\/strong>
\nI know that research shows that men are more likely to apply for jobs they\u2019re not qualified for, where women will not apply for those jobs because they do not feel qualified. I feel confident in pursuing jobs because I feel like I\u2019ve already had that experience here in fundraising, in working with a team, in doing dynamic projects, in navigating some difficult conversations on campus. I feel really excited. I\u2019m ready. I\u2019m pumped. I can\u2019t wait to be paid. I\u2019m about to enter into the Ramen life, though.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m applying to two grad schools right now. They\u2019re very competitive programs, so we\u2019ll see. Nonprofit leadership is one of them, and the other is educational leadership policy advocacy. I want to work for LGBTQ nonprofits and do special events and programming.<\/p>\n

\"Lydia

Lydia Price ’15, Birmingham, Alabama; English major with a literature concentration, history minor<\/p><\/div>\n

Price<\/strong>
\nI want to be a reading specialist ultimately. I want to work with children and hopefully I\u2019ll have an individual practice. But that means closely working with parents. And sometimes that can be kind of conflictual when you are talking about a child who is struggling. So I think through BLI, our general culture, and being a resident assistant, I\u2019ve been able to develop skills that will help me work with parents, schools, administrators, colleagues: working with people where they are.<\/p>\n

Winslow<\/strong>
\nHollins has given me that sense of confidence. I don\u2019t plan on being a pharmacist for the rest of my life. I plan on being a pharmacist for the next two, two and a half decades, and then I\u2019m going to do something else. I\u2019ve been told by so many of my parents\u2019 colleagues in the ER department that you don\u2019t want to be stuck with one thing the rest of your life, that you\u2019re going to get bored, and that you\u2019re going to want to do something else. And when I\u2019m ready to do that, I still think I\u2019ll be able to pull from my experience from Hollins and adjust if I want to completely change my career and do something not even science related.<\/p>\n

Photos by Olivia Body ’08<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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