Hi, I’m Melanie Decelles, a new
first year student at Shimer College. I’m 23 and my favorite color in the world
is red.
I wound up at Shimer after 4 years at a two year college and a favorite teacher
who teaches almost exclusively Great Books course. This combination led to me
taking 6 separate Great Books or Great Books-emphasis classes and doing better
in them then I had in any other class I’d taken in my life.
When the transfer counselor at my school told me there was an entire
school run the way Professor Richardson’s classes were taught, I knew I had to
go there.
Taking as long as I did to figure myself out my seem like a waste of time,
but if it hadn’t been for that time spent I might never have found Shimer or if
I had I never would have thought I’d be able to succeed there.
All that aside as a new Shimer student I wanted to write about a
phenomenon I’d noticed on campus when I first started:
The Waving Phenomenon
One notable thing that you might notice when you first start going to
Shimer is that everyone knows each other. Since it’s such a small school that
makes sense but it’s more than just the size of the school. If any current
Shimer student sees you on the Shimer floor they will remember. Later if they
see you anywhere else, walking to Starbucks, on the way to lunch, they will
wave at you.
People you never met will always make eye contact and say hi.
If they see you eating alone at lunch they might come up and eat with you
out of the blue. Because when you joined the Shimer school you also joined
their community. They all want to make sure you adjust well.
This also extends to every time you might be waiting in a hallway or for
the elevator people that you may or may not know will ask you how classes are
going and give you tips on things you’re struggling with.
From the moment you have orientation for the next 3-4 years of your
college career you live temporarily in a very small town that knows you and
wants you to succeed.
Should you get used to the waving phenomenon and all that it encompasses
there is also the matter of your Shimer email account. In your student email
you will receive emails about everything.
Absolutely everything.
The Shimer email system works like a community bulletin board, you will
hear about parties and bikes for sale, you’ll be told about stolen lunches and
available volunteer work. Checking your email will put you right in the middle
of what is happening on campus. Since I’m from Chicago and have always gone to
very large schools this level of intimacy and immediate acceptance scared me a
little at first.
Who on Earth would be so nice to me from the get go?
The answer is my community. A community that is focused on maintaining
the very open quality that has taken shape at this school. While the motives
might have made me suspicious at first, I gotta say I get it now. The entire
atmosphere at Shimer is one that I really love and will definitely work hard to
maintain. So when the next year of Shimer students starts and I am no longer a
first year I will wave to new strangers, I will ask them about their classes, I
will let them know that they have joined a small community, and we are very
happy to have them.
THIS POST MAKES ME SO HAPPY! I am so glad that this is your experience with the Shimer community. :)
Posted by: Holly Peterson | September 29, 2012 at 08:31 AM