FEATURE
Feb
02 2012
PAGE
6
STARTING IN JANUARY “It almost felt like the Jan-starts were being treated like celebrities.”
AARON ROSENBAUM ’12
Top from left: First-year Jan-starts Jacqueline Kim, Kelsey Lund. Bottom from left: Helena Victor, Emily Walker, Hilary Painter, Brooke McKallor sitting in front of Penrose Library on a sunny winter day. After spending a semester traveling or working, Jan-starts arrive to navigate classes, res life and the social scene at Whitman. Here, new and past Jan-starts discuss the unique community that develops after taking a gap semester. Photo by Felt
Gap semester travelers bring fresh perspective to campus by MOLLY EMMET T Staff Reporter
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“It was an independence builder” HILARY PAINTER ‘15
Painter spent her gap semester backpacking in the Himalayas through the National Outdoor Leadership School. Photo contributed by Tirrel-Wysocki
hile many first-year students’ fall semesters were highlighted by discussions about Odysseus and IM football, a handful of firstyears spent theirs traveling to exotic destinations and learning in alternative ways. When some students are admitted to Whitman, they are offered admission for the spring semester instead of the fall. “Each year, there are a number of qualified, compelling applicants who we’re unable to admit outright for fall, but offer a place in the spring class,” said director of admission Kevin Dyerly in an email. The school can accommodate these additional students in the spring because more juniors study abroad during the second semester and many seniors do not register for full courseloads. Thus a small spring class can enter Whitman in January. “Many of our Jan-starts welcome the opportunity to take a semester off after a grueling high school experience to travel, work, or serve their communities before enrolling at Whitman,” said Dyerly. Last fall, first-year Janstart Hilary Painter traveled half-way across the globe to go
backpacking in the Himalayas. She was able to do this through a course facilitated by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and it proved to be an invaluable adventure. Along with her group, Painter journeyed from village to village in the northern Uttarakhand province of the mountain range. “It was an independence builder,” said Painter of her two-month excursion. “It was quite an adventure.” Compared to days spent hiking in India, the transition to Whitman has been a bit strange, but Painter believes she and her Jan-Start peers have integrated well. “I think all of us had our fear of academics and making friends, but we all have Encounters together, so it’s a nice transition back into the academic world,” she said. First-year Dylan Snyder is another student who took a gap semester during the fall, and he spent his time in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. “I had the option to either go abroad or get a job, and I figured I wouldn’t have time after [finishing] school to go traveling,” said Snyder. Through an organization called Carpe Diem Education, Snyder took a two-and-a-half month trip through the South
Pacific, where he gained an outdoor education through activities such as working on a dairy farm in New Zealand, and scuba diving in Australia. “The experience taught me to relax, loosen up and prepare for living in the dorms, in close quarters with a person my own age,” said Snyder. A third member of the spring class, first-year Helena Victor, spent three months of her gap semester in Mexico, also through a NOLS program. She went backpacking, kayaking and sailing in Baja. And though it was a challenge, Victor found the experience extremely rewarding. “One of the things they really emphasize in their curriculum is ‘tolerance for adversity and uncertainty.’ That was definitely something I needed to work on,” said Victor. Although her transition back into society was a bit overwhelming, Victor feels the transition into Whitman has been smooth, thanks to the lessons she learned from her time abroad, as well as Whitman’s efforts to make her feel comfortable. “I feel like my mental stamina has increased tremendously and made me ready for the transition back into an academic environment,” Victor said. “[Plus,] it’s nice to be surrounded by such inviting people.”
Jan-starts overcome awkward transition, find community by KINSEY W HITE Staff Reporter
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or first-year Whitman students starting their college experience in January, the transition, although difficult, is overwhelmingly fulfilling according to a variety of Jan-starts. The class of 2015 grew by 17 students at the beginning of second semester with the introduction of Jan-starts into firstyear residential and academic life. These new students either chose to defer a semester, or were offered spring admission by the college. All are integrated within first-year residence halls, make up their own Encounters course (led by Professor Mitch Clearfield) and experience their own shortened version of firstyear orientation. However, the transition into college life a semester after most have settled in provides its own challenges. “The first few days were slightly awkward just because all the regular students were coming back and excited to see their old friends, and we were these random people wandering around their dorms,” said firstyear Jan-start Brooke McKallor. “[However], once everyone settled in, I experienced so much kindness, and I felt really welcome!” Jan-starts from years past echo McKallor’s thoughts. Sophomore Jan-start Andrew Martin equated his social experience to a “superfast first-year orientation,” explaining that you make many friends quickly as a Jan-start, but many “fade away” since he didn’t “have a first semester to dabble around in friend groups” like the first-semester students did. “I thought that the Jan-start experience was the best thing that could have happened for my social life and for my identity as a
social human being,” said senior Jan-start Aaron Rosenbaum. “It almost felt like the Jan-starts were being treated like celebrities, since everyone was excited to meet the new students on campus.” Rosenbaum also said that the other Jan-starts in his class “provided a great group of friends.” According to Rosenbaum, the relationship amongst the Janstarts themselves is both unique and unifying. The Jan-start students typically become close throughout orientation week and within their Encounters course, mostly within each individual residence hall. A sense of solidarity and understanding runs within the group, which makes the social transition to Whitman life more understandable and not as intimidating. “We were super tight at first. Especially the ones who lived in your dorm,” said Martin. “It’s like rolling your Scramble, your section and your core class into one beautiful jumble.”
“It’s like rolling your Scramble, your section and your core class into one beautiful jumble.” Andrew Martin ’14
The transition to college academics proves to be a challenge for some of these second semester first-years. After taking up to eight months off of schooling, getting back into the swing of studying, coupled with the difficulty of collegiate education comparatively to high school leads to some struggles in class. “I felt like the only bad part of my Jan-start experience was the academic transition. Part of this is my own background having never taken a discussion-based
class before, but much of it had to do with the lack of assistance, planning and support from the college,” said Rosenbaum. “First of all, registration times were last for Jan-starts and I was not able to get into classes that would have been interesting and important to take—especially as a science major—forcing me to take classes that were taught by visiting professors, which was not ideal. Normally freshmen get SA’s. However, I never felt like I had someone to go to for that help, after meeting them once during orientation, I never worked with them again.” Academic stress, coupled with an added pressure to attempt to graduate in three and a half years, leads some Jan-starts to seek schooling during their first semester off, or forces them into staying at Whitman for more than the seven semesters needed to graduate. From each Jan-start class, some students end up staying at Whitman for an additional two semesters, instead graduating with the class under them. In Rosenbaum’s case, as a chemistry major, he lost a year of science classes due to his position as a Janstart. However, not all Jan-starts feel the stresses of academia at the beginning of their Whitman career. “I don’t feel as though being a Jan-start disadvantaged me academically,” said senior Janstart Shannon Morrissey. “It provided an incentive to graduate early and save a semester’s worth of tuition, and I was still able to spend a semester off-campus.” Despite the difficulties of beginning their college career later than a majority of students, the interviewed Jan-starts all seem to agree that their experiences, although hard, were fulfilling. “It is definitely a unique way to start college!” said McKallor.
First-year Jan-starts Hilary Painter (top left), Helena Victor (top right) and Brooke McKallor (bottom) discuss gap semesters and fitting in at Whitman College. Photos by Felt