On a recent trip back to my high school for an alumni reunion, I found it interesting how I was able to rediscover where I had started to foster my interest in pursuing journalism. I vividly recall that after a high school summer program I attended at VCU’s School of Communications, pursing hard-news and feature stories started to greatly interest me.

News is constantly evolving ... whether we like it or not.

In particular, I think it was the human aspect of things that intrigued me the most about this field of work. The fact that people all around you have their own special story, a verbal historical record that just requires the right questioning to discover. Sometimes you’d be surprised. I’ve met war heroes, novelists, aspiring dreamers, people who had huge ambitions, and by some random occurrence ended up what they’re doing today (and are perfectly happy with what they’ve become). In a sense, it was also perhaps my own personal journey that made me realize that there really is never such a thing as a “dull” human being.

But recently, I’ve done something that I never thought I’d ever do: question whether or not I want to even pursue my own dream of a career as a journalist. And more and more, one particular question rises above the rest:

What exactly has our “free” press become?

All around the world, we flaunt our ideals enshrined in the freedom of the press and laugh at the absurd reporting of less freer countries such as China or North Korea. “Our media might be biased, but at least we’re not like them,” we argue. “At least we don’t report that our world cup team lost to Japan because they were struck by lightning…”

But is our news media really that much more different? I look around at broadcast news today, and with the exception of a few programs, I hardly ever see a non-biased news program. Every single one seems to have their own agenda, their own set of viewpoints and ideals that they want to instill on their viewers until death. Ironically, it’s the gag news shows like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report that end up taking a “common sense” approach to news. Perhaps that’s why they’ve gotten such a huge following.

How many of these words apply to news media today?

What happened to the days when news reporting was news reporting, not some bunch of biased “experts” spouting their own opinions about what will happen? What happened to the idea that the press was supposed to be the unbiased fourth branch, constantly checking to ensure the stability of politics? What happened to the Woodward and Bernstein of a bygone era?

At the rate that they’re going, more and more, I feel like the media just continuously adds fuel to the already volatile flames of politics, what part of that is a check?

Then there’s also print journalism, or rather, the lack thereof. As the field that I was initially trained in, I’ve developed a certain love for the newspapers of lore, of the breaking news journalist that’s willing to cover the hard investigative articles. Yet, unfortunately, the reality is that there’s a saying in the newspaper industry that newspapers “are a dying breed.” With the advent of the internet and ever increasing digital mobility, newspapers can no longer support themselves with simple ad revenue and subscriptions. Why should people buy a newspaper when they could easily do a Google News search and find what they’re looking for, often faster and more importantly, free of charge? Perhaps the most famous example was the recent fall of the Los Angeles Times, a newspaper giant that, in the face of bankruptcy, fired off editor after editor, reporter after reporter, in an effort to make a profit. But the eventual downfall of the newspaper industry is one that is facing all newspapers around the country, not just the giants.

How many of these will exist in 20 years? 30? 40?

This is the industry I want to enter. And I’m a bit worried. Wouldn’t you be too?

In the 21st century, more than ever, the basic ideals of which the structure of journalism upholds its integrity is constantly being challenged and in some ways defrauded. Traditional forms of journalism can’t compete with newer, more innovative digital formats, and journalists, good journalists,  those willing to spend the time and money to cover the important stories are a rare and rapidly disappearing breed.

But in a certain sense, perhaps I’m looking at this situation the wrong way. There’s a saying that every college student enters college to learn about the world, and exits college wanting to change it. Perhaps this is my personal challenge that I need to face in order to change my part of the world bit by bit.

… well, I’ll see what I can do …

Admit It!  Transfers, you’ve been clamoring for more blogs specifically related to transfer admission and we’ve been listening.  So, from here forward we will do our best to take a “time out for transfers” every so often to provide more insight into our transfer admission process and to answer your questions.

So for starters, let’s talk about something you’re probably not thinking about: the high school transcript.  Oftentimes, transfers wonder why it is we require a high school transcript.  There are actually several reasons.  The first of which is that we consider it a permanent part of your academic record, and as such we want it to be part of your W&M record should you be admitted.  It assists us, for example, in determining whether or not you’ve already fulfilled W&M’s foreign language proficiency (which you can accomplish in high school by completing the fourth level of a single foreign language).

The second reason is that it provides context for your coursework in college.  Knowing what courses you completed in high school helps us evaluate the rigor of your college curriculum.  For example, we sometimes see transfers repeat courses in college they completed in high school or even regress (for example, someone completing calculus in high school and then taking pre-calculus in college).  We recognize that placement tests or AP/IB exams can determine which class you’re required to take at college and that may compel you to repeat a course but when that’s avoidable, we’d recommend it.

Finally, a high school transcript may be the bulk of a transfer’s academic record.  Students applying to transfer in their first or second semester of college have a very limited, or no college record.  In those cases, we rely heavily on the high school transcript to determine if a student is prepared to be successful in W&M classrooms.

Note that we do put the high school transcript in context.  If you’re a non-traditional student, and it’s been five, ten, fifteen or more years since you graduated from high school, we recognize that that record is long since detached from who you are as a student now.  That being said, see the first reason above.

So how did we do on our first “time out for transfers” blog?  What other topics should we take time out for in the future?  For now, the transfers’ first time out has come to an end.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission

It’s been over two years since I left the ‘burg for another piece of land, equally steeped in trees and tradition … the Quantico highlands. I commissioned on August 13 of 2011 with the Marine Corps and have been stationed at Quantico ever since. I couldn’t be happier.

There was always a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood amongst William & Mary Tribe members. When it came to consider my life after William & Mary, which I desperately did NOT want to do, I knew that I’d have to do something I truly believed in. Something that would mean something. W&M has a funny way of brain-washing you into wanting to make a difference. I think that’s wonderful, and I hope The College goes on inspiring it’s young men and women into doing unique and meaningful things with their lives.

I had a stint with Teach for America after I graduated. It was immensely rewarding, but just wasn’t fulfilling enough. I didn’t want to teach my whole life, and despite my support of education reform in this country, I knew I’d need to do something different in order to feel as though I was where I needed to be.

I found that in the Marine Corps.

I feel just as comfortable walking across a landing zone as I did on the lawns of the Sunken Gardens. I’m carrying an M16 these days and an assault pack filled with MREs, as opposed to a Nalgene bottle and a back pack filled with philosophy texts. It’s not necessarily a common line of work for William & Mary grads, but it’s what worked for me. Funnily enough, so much of what I learned and experienced at William & Mary carried right into my career as a Marine Officer … honor, integrity, commitment. I can’t imagine having spent my college years anywhere else, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Oorah, Tribe … Oorah.

One of the courses I am teaching this term is Earth Structure & Dynamics (GEOL 323), a second-level geology course, and a required class for all Geology majors.  This course combines structural geology, tectonics, geophysics, and a pinch of historical geology.  Thirty-four students enrolled in this year’s class, that’s plenty, and free seats are hard to come by in the classroom.

Earth Structure & Dynamics class pondering the third dimension.

As you might guess from the course title, I want students to be well versed at recognizing and understanding how earth structures form. What is an earth structure? Anticlines, reverse faults, half-grabens, stretching lineations, and boudinage (to name a few). This requires three-dimensional thinking, and 3D thinking requires much practice. On Friday, I projected an image of a craggy mountain side in the Needles Mountains of southwest Colorado and asked the class to 1) sketch the geology, 2) identify the salient geologic structures, and 3) work out the temporal history of the geologic events. I annotated the image such that different rocks and surface landforms are illustrated. Talus is rocky debris that has accumulated at the base of the cliffs: I want the students to “see through” the talus to visualize the underlying bedrock structures.

View of mountain side above Dollar Lake in the Needle Mountains, Colorado with geologic materials labeled.

The limestone crops out above both the gneiss and quartzite, and it is the only one of the bunch that’s not been metamorphosed, therefore it is the youngest rock in the scene. But which of the metamorphic rocks is the oldest? The class struggled with this one. From the image alone the age relations are not discernible, but notice the quartzite is weakly metamorphosed (in contrast to the gneiss, a well-metamorphosed rock) and the original layering (bedding) is evident. Based on this information the quartzite is younger than the gneiss.

Annotated photo illustrating geologic structures.

The boundaries between the different rock types are structures (referred to as geologic contacts). The limestone overlies the older metamorphic rocks along an unconformity, whereas the gneiss and the quartzite are juxtaposed across a fault (but just what type of fault?). Many students overlooked the significance of these geologic structures, but with practice, these abominations will stop!

The photo is two dimensional, but how best to help bring out the third dimension? Google Earth to the rescue—we zoomed from space into the Needle Mountains to about the same vantage point as the field photo was taken. With the tilt, pan, and zoom function it was easy to see the steep slopes of talus and that the limestone forms an erosional cap above the older metamorphic rocks. We will use overlays and tours in Google Earth to hone our visualization skills in the coming weeks. I want the Earth Structures students to translate from 2D to 3D without a hitch, by the end of the semester they’ll be dreaming in 3D!

Google Earth view of the same scene from the Needle Mountains.

So what is the temporal history of the geologic events?  Here is my interpretation from oldest to youngest:

• formation of the protolith for the gneiss
• burial and metamorphism to form the gneiss
• uplift and erosion
• deposition of sand that forms the protolith to the quartzite
• burial and metamorphism affects the gneiss and creates the quartzite
• tilting
• faulting juxtaposes the gneiss and quartzite
• erosion
• deposition of the limestone
• minor tilting
• uplift
• erosion to form the modern topography
• I take the picture

What the Geology 323 students worked out was the relative timing of geologic events, a fundamental skill for earth scientists.  The next logical step would be to determine when, in absolute terms, these events occurred—that comes later in the semester when we delve into geochronology.

I know many of you may often feel loss, as I know I do most of the time. And when it comes down to understanding why something happens, or why we cannot control nor contain situations, we end up overexerting ourselves. I know I do.  But it’s exhausting. And while it’s easier to offer my thoughts on this than it is to take a dose of my own medicine, I wanted to remind you all to embrace that life is good.

When push comes to shove, we can end up leading ourselves astray. We may get lost in our initial response/reaction to an event. But it’s important to always be willing to shift perspectives. Be free, and allow yourself to shift gears. Perhaps you’re moving at 90 mph when you should be going 55 mph. Or, you’re adding less spices and herbs for fear of overpowering your dinner. What you must do is learn to reevaluate. Widen your view and accept that what you experience is part of something much bigger. We may not understand it now, but when we do, it will be worth the wait.

After all, we each have to try many different combinations before we can open our own lock to our locker of life. Remember, it’s okay to pick the wrong combination of numbers beforehand. As long as we’re willing to reassess and rearrange, we’ll be set for whatever lies ahead. We’re the W&M Tribe; I’m pretty sure it’s in our blood to succeed—no matter how difficult the struggle.

Admit It!  This blog title is probably not overly appealing on its face but I think it’s a good reflection of where my colleagues and I are at the moment (at least those of us who write with our pens pressed firmly against our thumbs).  On my thumb is a rather tangible and painful reminder that it’s reading season; the time of year when admission officers go into a virtual hibernation surrounded by application files, caffeine and pens as far as the eye can see.

Two months, 20 ball-point pens and two delicate, womanly-looking hands ago, reading season commenced.  It starts out slow with Early Decision and then crescendos into January and February when my colleagues and I manage to be physically and mentally drained yet also palpably excited about our work simultaneously.  Our fingers are calloused from writing and cut from various upturned papers, our shoulders have permanent indentations from our Land’s End file bags (our bosses give each one of us a gigantic Lands End canvas bag with our monogram when we start our work in the offices) which hold hundreds of files and weigh 20-25 pounds.  Our backs have a distinct hunchback-like bend to them from leaning over desks/dining room tables/lap-desks.  Some of us rise before the sun and read like fiends each morning while others of us sleep until the afternoon and read until the wee hours of the morning (I’m not sure if these blogs are time stamped but in case they’re not, I’m the latter).  Whenever we have a spare five minutes we pick up a file and read, read, read.

No doubt it sounds exhausting.  And it is.  But it’s also enthralling.  We are working together to build W&M’s 319^th class; a group of 1450 accomplished, smart, talented, diverse students that will become part of the fabric that completes the nation’s second oldest college.  We get absolutely giddy over our applicants’ amazing accomplishments, their many talents, their successes, their failures and their humor.  We often text each other at some un-Godly hour to mention a great essay we read or to share the stats of yet another wicked smart applicant.  We share essays, optional submissions and a lot of anticipation with each other.  And we have all of you to thank for that.

So callouses, paper cuts and back pain be damned.  We will keep reading, our excitement level will sustain itself and we will continue to enjoy all that you have shared with us until the Class of 2016 is formed.  And just in case we’ll keep some Advil, Band Aids and an extra cup of coffee close by.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission

The season has started and Tribe Gymnastics is off to a solid start! Our first competition took place at George Washington University with four other visiting teams: North Carolina, Cornell, Penn, and Temple. The Tribe took fifth place, missing third place by only two tenths of a point.  Be sure to check out William and Mary’s Women’s Gymnastics Facebook page for videos from the meet! Senior, and Captain, Kristin Milardo led the Tribe, winning third place in the all-around. Kristin has also received the title of ECAC Gymnast of the Week. Great work, Kristin!

The team had a great time during winter break training. We spent a lot of time together in and out of the gym bonding. However, classes are back in session this week, and the Tribe is getting back into a routine schedule and is ready for another successful semester!

Everyone is working extremely hard and cleaning up their routines to fight for those few extra tenths everywhere! We continue to have pressure sets on each event throughout the week to simulate and gear up for our next upcoming meet. This Saturday, the Tribe will be traveling to Maryland to compete against Towson and Alaska Anchorage on Sunday, January 22 at 1:00pm! One more practice to go!

GO TRIBE!

Bree Gawron

I have many memories of my experiences as a Sharpe Scholar my first year at William and Mary, and as I was warned that first year: once a Sharpie, always a Sharpie. That year in the Sharpe Program strongly influenced both my undergraduate years and my continued life choices.  That year set me on my way to becoming a Sharpe Teaching Fellow, living in the Community Scholars House for three years, and beginning my addition to the Office of Community Engagement & Scholarship. Sharpe also helped me define my personal commitment to focusing my scholarship on issues of community and social identities and developed my daily investment in living out the values of equality, social justice, and active citizenship.

As I was recently cleaning out my Google Documents, I found something I wrote my freshman year about my experience in the Sharpe Program. Monica Griffin, Director of the Sharpe Program, had asked a few of us to speak to the Board of Visitors about Sharpe and what it meant to us, and this was what I drafted in preparation:

“The Sharpe Program has changed not only my service experience but my William and Mary experience.  Most community service programs ask you to give of yourself: give your time and your skill. Sharpe asks for these only as prerequisites. What Sharpe really asks you to do is engage, and when you feel like disengaging—when a community partner frustrates or you feel like the reading is going to swallow you—Sharpe asks you to keep pushing and realize that you are no longer just giving of yourself.  If it were just you, then you giving up would not make that much of a difference. Sharpe instead makes you realize you are a part of a collective: your classmates and professor, other members of the Sharpe program, community partners, all relying on each other. Even larger than that is the history, the people and the choices that came before you, and the possible future you are trying to create.

My particular seminar focuses on Maggie Lena Walker. I don’t know how much you know of her. I knew nothing until I googled her over the summer. Here are some interesting facts. Maggie Walker was the first female bank owner. She ran a newspaper, a store, and led the Independent Order of St. Luke. She strived for economic independence for women, African Americans, and her community as a whole. She also struggled with the prejudices against Black women during the Jim Crow era. If I were in a lecture class about Maggie Walker, these, along with many other facts, would be the kind of knowledge I could bring you today. Instead, the breadth of knowledge my seminar has brought me is quite astounding. The best way I can think of describing it is this: In a lecture class we might look at a series of neighborhood photographs and say, “Look at the houses in these photographs. What can we learn from the houses?” In my Sharpe seminar we get only one photograph and we ask, “What can we see in the one photograph?” We study everything from the houses, to the cars, to the people, to the blades of grass. We spend a semester with that one photograph. Because of this we become intimate with many aspects of our topic, to the point that it becomes more than a photograph, but rather a mental image. Once that image is in your mind you’re committed.

Maggie Walker, as I mentioned, owned a bank.  In the North Jackson Ward district of Richmond, there still stands a structure with large letters reading St. Luke Building. Inside the building you will find a bank vault and a bank window. You will also find that the pressed tin ceiling has been ripped down to get at the copper piping above it. Watch your step because you will find dead pigeons, broken bottles, and countless other shattered objects on the floor. The plaque that used to commemorate Maggie Walker and the St. Luke Building is only a memory in the four screw holes that held it to the wall.

This was not the mental image my seminar had come to create; it was instead the sad reality that we are working to change. While the building is a very graphic symbol of what has happened to the history and legacy of Maggie Walker, it is not the core of our efforts.  Instead what our class has been inspired by is the community of North Jackson Ward. A struggling population, mainly African American, North Jackson Ward is about to undergo extensive redevelopment.  We want to help create a place for the community to come together during this time of change and live the values that Maggie Walker so cherished.What we want most is a use for the space that keeps the historic character of the building while directly serving the people.

While I have expanded beyond Sharpe to take on volunteer opportunities that make me feel good as soon as I show up, Sharpe satisfies a completely different need. As I said before, it’s not service, it’s engagement.  It is recognizing that there is more than what you want, and more than you thought you could give. It’s looking at one photograph and saying what now?”

I continue to ask myself “what now” as I consider how to make the best impact on the many communities I am a part of (including my Tribe family), and I remain grateful for all that I learned from my Sharpe engagement experience.

Now that I’m back in Williamsburg (and consequently trying to find a job and not be bored), I’ve been online a lot—thumbing through pictures from my trip to Haiti two weeks ago, catching up with old friends, planning my sister’s wedding, and checking out new additions to the William & Mary website. I follow W&M News on Facebook and couldn’t have been happier to find an article announcing the Jefferson Winner for this year—Professor Ann Reed, the Director of William & Mary’s Linguistics Department (read the article here!). Being a Linguistics major, I’ve had the insane pleasure of having Professor Reed for two semesters—one while I was struggling through Generative Syntax (not my forte) and the other this past semester, learning and growing as a student in her Descriptive Linguistics class. I was so happy to have the chance to take a class like that with Professor Reed—a class of 10 or so students, meeting two times a week with a speaker of Tagalog, trying to figure out what was going on with the language. Professor Reed guided us through that process—which for some (cough cough myself cough cough) was harder than others. At the end of the semester, we celebrated with dinner at her house where we showed up early and cooked traditional Filipino food together. It was fantastic.

Hearing about Professor Reed and the Jefferson Award made me not only proud to be one of her students, but also proud to be a student at William & Mary, where professors are different and have a perfect balance between intellect and compassion for their students. I am always blown away by the types of professors that we have. In the Fall 2011 edition of the W&M Alumni magazine, I found myself grinning while reading the “Elemental Teaching” article, because two of the professors featured were my two advisors here—Dr. Anne H. Charity Hudley, my undergraduate school advisor, and Dr. Denise Johnson, my graduate school advisor. Dr. Charity Hudley has been a fantastic part of my undergraduate career and I know will continue to serve as a reference for me as life goes on, and although I haven’t had a significant opportunity (other than scheduling) to meet with Dr. Johnson yet, I am excited and hopeful about what is to come.

Whether they’re grading papers, commenting on your facebook status, inviting you to co-present with them at conferences, or encouraging your academic development and confidence, William & Mary professors are a class all of their own. They don’t only teach the subject of the class you’re taking, they get involved with your personal life. They ask questions about how your family is doing, how your sister’s organic vegetable farm is progressing, how your extra-curricular activities are going, and make sure you’re properly managing your stress. They teach, they care, they inspire. How lucky I am to have been able to study under the great minds that exist here, but even luckier to have been able to become friends with them as well.

Go Tribe,

Kylee.

Here’s a fact that I was reminded of yesterday: If you wear W&M gear, your world becomes smaller.

Earlier this year I reported how I was with a friend studying for the LSAT in Reston, VA. We took a break to grab a coffee and were heralded by the businessman behind us, whose daughter graduated from W&M some years past. I was wearing a W&M baseball cap. We got to talking, and he discussed how much he loved W&M through his daughter’s time there. In the end, we both got coffees and business cards. “If you ever need anything, you don’t ever hesitate to let me know.”

W&M’ers love airports. That’s a fact. With the highest study abroad rate for any public doctoral-granting university in the US, you can bet that if you’re going to encounter W&M people anywhere, it’s while traveling.

Two years ago, I was traveling with Findlay Parke ’11 to go and spend some of the summer on a dude ranch out in Wyoming with his family. I was wearing my W&M hat and we heard a random “Go Tribe” shouted at us from behind us in the boarding line. Another W&M fan, and another conversation.

Two days later, we were seated at a table at a ranch in the middle of Saddlestring, Wyoming. I had the hat on and it turned out the man sitting across from us at the table with his family was an alumni. That made the conversation way more exciting.

This past fall, I was traveling to London with my parents and spied across the boarding gate a W&M student wearing his freshman class t-shirt that all students are given during orientation. So, I went up and introduced myself. It turns out that particular student was heading to Beijing for the semester – we talked about W&M and got to know one another. His shirt, which said Raise the Green and Gold, did just that in the airport that day.

Last week in London’s Heathrow International Airport, Hayley Rushing ’11, a fellow W&M alumni and Scotland graduate student ran into a member of the Class of 2014 who was headed off to study abroad at W&M’s Oxford University program. They chatted and shared their love for W&M.

I found this out on Twitter. News of little W&M moments spreads quickly. People get excited.

Yesterday I was flying from DC, through London, back to Scotland for the spring term at Edinburgh. I hadn’t been wearing it at all previously but for some reason I took my W&M hat out of my backpack and threw it on my head. Bad post-flight-have-not-showered-hair-situation or something. I have a thing I do now: whenever I’m walking through an airport, I put on my W&M hat. I throw it in my backpack before I leave the house. Call it previous experience.

Keep this in mind: my layover was only 40 minutes long.

I was walking through Terminal 5 headed to my gate when all of the sudden I hear my name, turn around, and have Moey Fox ’13 run into my arms. Moey was headed off to Florence, Italy, to study abroad for the semester. Now I have a standing invitation to Florence I may have to take up. We chatted a bit and I thought to myself, what a small world this is.

Well—it got even smaller.

When I arrived at my gate I was sitting on the ground charging my UK phone when I heard my name called again. I looked up and found old friend Kira Allman ’10 standing above me. I jumped up and collected my second hug and smile from my time in Heathrow—who is that lucky during layovers and jetlags? Kira was traveling with her boyfriend, both of them graduate students at Oxford University, on their way to Geneva where he was presenting at a conference. Her gate was right next to mine. We made plans for me to visit Oxford in the Spring. Plans I intend to keep.

4 minutes. 3 people I knew. 2 W&M moments. 1 over-whelming sense of wow.

Moral: Don’t just love W&M, or remember it—wear your affection on your sleeve. Or your head. Or anywhere. Green and gold are a handsome combination. Even if it’s just a hat you keep in your backpack, throw it on from time to time.

This place is incredible. It binds people with a sense of community that stretches beyond Williamsburg and reaches its fingers across the globe. Spread the word. The smallest of gestures – like wearing a hat – can introduce you to new faces, earn you coffees, connections and conversations, or reunite you with some very old friends in some very odd places.

Do yourself a favor: http://wm.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SubcategoryView?catalogId=10001&storeId=17554&categoryId=40038&parentCatId=40006&topCatId=40000&langId=-1

Go Tribe,

Brian ’11