6 minute read
RHEA WONG CDEP 1997
Rhea Wong CdeP 1997 is a leading nonprofit fundraising consultant and author. She spent time on campus this past fall and winter—along with her husband Joaquin and her dog Stella—as an Anacapa Scholar teaching Social Entrepreneurship. Her students learned more about the nonprofit sector, how to construct a fundraising campaign, and to reflect on the causes that they care about.
THIS PAST WINTER, I HAD THE DISTINCT PLEASURE OF RETURNING TO CAMPUS AS AN ANACAPA SCHOLAR. AFTER MORE THAN 20 YEARS IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR, I FELT LIKE I WAS COMING BACK HOME TO SHARE WHAT I’VE LEARNED. IT WAS ALSO NOT A HARDSHIP TO ESCAPE THE BRUTAL NEW YORK WINTER FOR OJAI.
I had complicated feelings about returning to campus.
I was a girl who graduated in the 90s and was a student at the time during the most horrifying episodes detailed in the MTO report. Aside from the traumatizing experiences of some of my peers, I also reckoned with my own hard experiences of being a girl, a student of color, and on financial aid at a time when it felt like that the institution was designed to undermine my personhood.
As a girl, how could I relate to Thacher’s good old boy and machismo outdoor culture?
As a student of color, how could I relate to Thacher’s (then) policy of “we don’t talk about differences—we’re all Toads!” when my background and lived experience were clearly very different from the predominantly white student body? It also did not help that I was regularly called by the names of other Asian girls.
As a recipient of financial aid, how could I relate to my classmates whose family’s names were on buildings and the ways in which the school celebrated “tradition,” meaning wealth and legacy?
And yet, many things can be true at the same time.
It is also true that I made some of the closest friends of my life who are sisters to me. It is also true that the School forged my sense of honor, fairness, kindness, and truth which has led me to a satisfying life of service in the nonprofit field. It is also true that the School opened doors and opportunities that have deeply enriched my life. It is also true that I received an education that was rigorous, challenged me to think critically, and prepared me for leadership.
And so it was with this mixed bag that I stepped onto campus with, as they say, “Hopes for the best, plans for the worst.”
As your inside woman, I’m happy to report that today’s Thacher student seems to be better overall with some qualifiers.
First, the bad(dish) news.
One of my first days on campus, one of my students asked, “Ms. Wong, were you not allowed to have cell phones in the dining hall too?”
Iliterally laughed out loud.
Oh, children. I was at Thacher before the time of cell phones. I was there before the internet. Yes, also dinosaurs roamed the Earth then too.
I’m no Luddite, but I do think that the preponderance of technology seems to have taken away something of the Thacher experience.
Now, students are regularly in contact with their friends and family back home through their cell phones, which can make the experience of being at Thacher a little less of a bubble and possibly less of a tightly-knit community.
I’m also not sure if this is a symptom of the pandemic, social media, the ultra-competitive academic landscape or general end-times anxiety, but students today seem so much more anxious and stressed than we ever did. Life at Thacher was always busy, but with 24/7 technology it never seems like the kids switch off.
Some of my favorite Thacher moments were shooting the breeze with my friends in the dorm and wandering out on the trails. I’m not sure how much of that happens now.
On to the good news.
It seems like today’s Thacher student lives in an environment that is so much more thoughtful and intentional than Thacher of the 90s.
Post-report, the School has put in so many policies and safeguards for the students. While I know it might seem like overkill to the kids, I’m glad it’s there. I think of it as policy seatbelts: hope you won’t need it, but glad it’s there just in case.
Everything from the choice of curricula to the sustainability of the landscaping to the diversity of the student body, it’s clear that Thacher is making strides to create spaces of safety, belonging, and responsibility.
It’s not perfect, but it looks like we’re heading in the right direction in creating healthy (in mind, body, and spirit), whole hearted, ethical future citizens.
While I was on campus, the second report was published and the School had an assembly and was ready to handle students’ reactions. As an alum of the 90s, I was more than a little emo. The school canceled classes as a precaution for the emotional backlash for the students.
What happened?
Basically, a collective shrug from the students. Their biggest question: are sports canceled for the day?
This is progress.
Because despite all that is happening in the world and all of the history that we have to reckon with as a school, it seems today’s Thacher kids don’t relate to it. Even though there is no such thing as perfect, we are still preserving a joyful, enriching experience for young people to learn and grow in the golden Ojai sun.
I hope that when they are in middle-age, they will look back on their time as Thacher students with affection for that special place in the world that grew them into the humans they become. Just as I do.
My deepest thanks to Katherine Halsey, Jeff Hooper, Tracy Miller, and the whole Thacher community for welcoming me back. Special thanks to Elina Chen '24, Pierce Dowling '25, Catherine Feira '25, Sarah Sonenshine '24, and Olivia Thomas '24 for going on this journey with me.
"Everything from the choice of curricula to the sustainability of the landscaping to the diversity of the student body, it’s clear that Thacher is making strides to create spaces of safety, belonging, and responsibility."
