BY ARNELLE WILLIAMS ’13
WMA ALUMNI: REFLECTION
‘We all have the potential to be a light in this world’
I
cannot talk about my current accolades without giving a well-respected homage and ode to the life-changing work an experience at Wilbraham & Monson Academy did in elevating a quirky, teenager from Brooklyn, New York, to be a confident Black woman, educator and mentor. The beauty of writing this reflection during quarantine is that I am able to pause, reminisce and smile at how my journey, still being written, has fashioned me to become passionate about fighting against social injustice, creating what the late, legendary congressman John Lewis said is “good trouble,” and educating and empowering young people to envision a better world. Growing up in an Afro-Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn, I was incredibly comfortable with the sights, smells and sounds of inner city life. A walk to the corner store for quick necessities, block parties and frequent use of public transportation created both a demeanor and citizenship that was edgy, creative and familiar. However, within my social context, nobody I knew in the neighborhood nor family members went away for high school. When it was time to embark on this novel chapter and depart from the familiar, it felt like I was being uprooted from everything I’d known to study in a distant, foreign land even though it was only three hours away. Retrospectively, I have learned that every once in a while you must be uprooted,
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there for my social-emotional development. challenged so that you can discover more of They were my village away from home and I yourself, and grow in humility, love and respect express my gratitude. for other people. Yet, as much as WMA became a celebrated When my sister Amber and I arrived on multicultural community, I could not ignore Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s campus in the ways in which I became very aware of how August 2009, I experienced the effects of being my Black identity transgressed certain spaces. uprooted. It was culture shock. I could not I could not help but notice that in almost all of believe there existed an educational system that my AP classes, in varsity sports and as a Global brought students from all over the world to learn Scholar, I was the only Black American girl. and mature, and the class size was, at most, 15 I could not help but notice that my peers looked students! Living in the dorms, eating new foods at me awkwardly when we spoke about slavery in the dining hall, cultivating time-management in history class or questioned the conditions skills during study hall and interacting with of my kinky hair. I could not help but notice that different students on sports teams and clubs, was all the Black students sat together in the dining a privilege unlike anything I’ve known. Like hall or when I said that I was from Brooklyn, a sponge, I soaked up this revelation and quickly people imagined it as a dangerous place. I could became involved. not help but wonder if I was being awarded I joined the Atlas newspaper as a budding something based on merit when words like journalist, became a writing tutor, a lead dancer “affirmative action” or “it’s because she’s Black” in theater, a prefect in the dorm, a volunteer circled around me. I also could not ignore how at the local soup kitchen, a global scholar, my upbringing did not include Harry Potter participated in Model UN and co-founded references nor “summering” in the Hamptons “WMA’s Got Talent” with an Italian international or receiving a car at 15. Although the 2018 movie student. But my need to help others and give “The Hate U Give” was a fictional account of back to communities fueled any ambitious the complexities of boarding school for the spirit. Each activity shaped my passion for protagonist Starr, in many ways I related to her writing, leadership and the arts, and I indebtedly liminality when I transgressed between home and pursued them during my four years at Wesleyan boarding school. Despite WMA’s best intentions University. There, I was co-president of the for creating a tolerant community, I realized that Caribbean Students Association, joined the Ankh I still had to find ways to navigate different social (a student of color publication), danced, and settings. I recognized that privilege is historic, became a residential advisor. These parallels were and a direct reflection of how we treat people in not a coincidence, but rather a result of what this country. It finds its way into the very fabric of happens when you follow your passions and they a society and will expose itself when representation make room for you to flourish. of people of color is little, color blindness I also had great teachers who became becomes a practice and unconscious biases persist. mentors to me: Mr. LaBrecque, Mr. Harrington, This experience opened my eyes to the realities Mr. Moran, Ms. Hutcheson, Mr. Whitcomb, of opportunity gaps in communities of color Mr. Swanson, Mr. Deziek, Mr. and Mrs. Dziura, and how these disparities affect generations who Mr. L (Lautenschleger), Ms. Decker, Ms. Markowski and many others. They all helped strive for success. I left WMA not only very prepared for a me to excel academically. I had Mr. Boozang, studious and extracurricular life at Wesleyan, but Mr. Easler, Mrs. Power, Ms. Gallagher, also with an unwavering voice in my quest for Ms. Norman, Mrs. Swanson, Mrs. Smith, understanding how socioeconomic and political Ms. Jalbert, and Mr. and Mrs. Sparks who were
