We are a “community,” we are “encouraging growth,” and we are “broadening horizons.” As students, we’ve been fed these catchphrases since we began getting shiny red Denison promotional materials from the admissions office.
But these phrases are popular because they are, to some extent, true. Though Denison has defined factions, we are a community tied together by our classes, our housing, and academic characteristics that the university decides upon. We suffer internal and external wounds and mistakes, but we also heals from them. You are just beginning to forge your place on the Hill, and you now have the privilege and responsibility to be a part.
We are “encouraging growth” and “broadening horizons” as well. There are checklist ways to accomplish this, such as taking an African dance class or a language that your high school did not offer.
Through the practical implications of a small school, we have a community. Through educating students enough to get a liberal arts degree, we grow out of necessity. But as the rising class of 2017, as a new quarter of the student body, you have the privilege of defining these phrases anew.
Staff Editorial – The Denisonian staff