I really am a DePauw person. Who knew?
By: Liesl Goecker
Issue date: 5/6/08 Section: Opinion
I'm not a DePauw person. I paraphrase a friend from high school, so let me backtrack a moment and explain. My friend, let's call her Ann, used to complain all the time that she just wasn't a "high school person." Ann was very smart, but disliked high school parties, disliked cliques and had absolutely no patience for the inanities and pettiness that breed in high school. She was also anti-social and had a penchant for Vonnegut and Salinger, which might account for some of her attitudes.
But for many of the same reasons, I say I'm not a DePauw person. I like being social, but have moved past the fraternity scene; I dislike the greek system because it reminds me too much of high school cliques; and for years I've been saying - probably to the point of sounding obnoxiously self-righteous - that DePauw is too superficial, too insular, too arrogant.
I can't honestly say that if I could go back to when I was 18, I'd still choose DePauw. Frankly, (and freshmen and prospectives, please don't take this the wrong way), I don't think anyone is mature enough to choose the right college for the right reasons at age 18. I know I wasn't, but I didn't come to that realization until much later in the game.
Maybe DePauw wasn't the best place for me; maybe it was. Maybe you feel similarly; maybe you don't. But I know that I've had opportunities that I'd never get at any other school, and I've been set up for success by the DePauw faculty, staff and administration in a way that makes it my own fault entirely if I don't achieve what I hope to do in life. DePauw coddles us while we're here, but ultimately teaches us responsibility, if only after the fact - after we've graduated, when we suddenly realize that we are the only ones responsible for the kind of person we've become, and what we make of our lives.
It's cliche, but when you get to the end, you look back at what got you to this point. My friend Ann was the valedictorian of our high school class. In her speech, she talked about how she realized that being a "high school person" didn't necessarily mean she had to go to drunken parties, ignore people in different social groups and be small-minded. She added that if she never learned to be a high school person, then she'd never become a "college person."
Her words came back to me recently as I was trying to figure out what to write in this column. I wish I could offer some profound advice or poignant secret I've learned during my time here. The most I can say is this: Enjoy life in the moment in which you live. I'm coming to terms with the fact that DePauw has changed me in significant and inalterable ways. I've grown up, my perspectives have expanded, my opinions have changed, and I like to think I'm generally a better person. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I am a DePauw person, and in saying as much, I take responsibility for the next segment of my life. Because if I'm not a DePauw person, then I'll never be a "grad school person" or a "[insert type of work] person."
I'll never be much of any person at all.
But for many of the same reasons, I say I'm not a DePauw person. I like being social, but have moved past the fraternity scene; I dislike the greek system because it reminds me too much of high school cliques; and for years I've been saying - probably to the point of sounding obnoxiously self-righteous - that DePauw is too superficial, too insular, too arrogant.
I can't honestly say that if I could go back to when I was 18, I'd still choose DePauw. Frankly, (and freshmen and prospectives, please don't take this the wrong way), I don't think anyone is mature enough to choose the right college for the right reasons at age 18. I know I wasn't, but I didn't come to that realization until much later in the game.
Maybe DePauw wasn't the best place for me; maybe it was. Maybe you feel similarly; maybe you don't. But I know that I've had opportunities that I'd never get at any other school, and I've been set up for success by the DePauw faculty, staff and administration in a way that makes it my own fault entirely if I don't achieve what I hope to do in life. DePauw coddles us while we're here, but ultimately teaches us responsibility, if only after the fact - after we've graduated, when we suddenly realize that we are the only ones responsible for the kind of person we've become, and what we make of our lives.
It's cliche, but when you get to the end, you look back at what got you to this point. My friend Ann was the valedictorian of our high school class. In her speech, she talked about how she realized that being a "high school person" didn't necessarily mean she had to go to drunken parties, ignore people in different social groups and be small-minded. She added that if she never learned to be a high school person, then she'd never become a "college person."
Her words came back to me recently as I was trying to figure out what to write in this column. I wish I could offer some profound advice or poignant secret I've learned during my time here. The most I can say is this: Enjoy life in the moment in which you live. I'm coming to terms with the fact that DePauw has changed me in significant and inalterable ways. I've grown up, my perspectives have expanded, my opinions have changed, and I like to think I'm generally a better person. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I am a DePauw person, and in saying as much, I take responsibility for the next segment of my life. Because if I'm not a DePauw person, then I'll never be a "grad school person" or a "[insert type of work] person."
I'll never be much of any person at all.
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