When I reflect on my education at Bridgewater College, I must begin with the experiences that I

brought to the College. When I arrived at Bridgewater, I already had a keen interest in the outside
world. I was born to an American Father and a German mother who had been raised in the French
speaking part of Switzerland. When I was 4 years old in 1996, I spent 5 months in Germany. We lived in
an apartment complex at the University of Marburg where visiting faculty stayed. There were many
different nationalities represented and I was exposed to multiple cultures in addition to German. My
closest friends were from Crete, which is part of Greece, and Japan. During childhood, I spent multiple
summers in Switzerland and one in the Abruzzi in Italy. Finally, during high school I spent 6 weeks in
Paris with a University of Delaware study abroad course. These adventures convinced me that I needed
to learn as much as I could about the rest of the world outside of the United States. Americans live in a
country so large it is almost possible to forget the existence of other cultures which see the world
through a different set of values. It is ironic that I have been able to learn so much about the world and
exercise my passion for other cultures while studying in a small institution nestled in a valley between
two ranges of mountains thousands of miles away from the nearest foreign country.
My experiences at Bridgewater College represent a variety of different dimensions on which I
will attempt to reflect. I will focus on my intellectual growth during this time and the areas of discovery
I have encountered and studied during the past 4 years. Another aspect of a liberal arts education is an
emphasis on establishing academic citizenship among students at the institution as well as encouraging
an active sense of community responsibility in the students in the broadest sense. An additional core
value which is central to a liberal arts education is the development of an ethical prototype on which to
base future development. Another core value that Bridgewater College imbues in its graduates is a
template for future wellness both spiritually and physically. BC does not expect its students to achieve a
liberal arts education without a supportive atmosphere. Through its small size and excellent faculty to
student ratio, BC allows the students ample interaction with faculty members who are experts in their
respective fields. To offset the small size of the community, BC also provides access to a variety of
people from all over the world through the convocation program. The vast range of experiences of the
convocation presenters, taken together, adds to all of the dimensions of the liberal arts education
process. Through wellness classes, a broad range of physical education facilities sports teams, and
classes along with a wealth of healthy eating choices at the KCC; the staff, faculty, and administration of
Bridgewater College also encourage the development of habits which encourage a healthy lifestyle
suitable for a long and productive life.
At Bridgewater I decided to major in two fields that would allow me to reach my goals for
academic growth and discovery: International Studies and French. My first year quickly gave me new
experiences as I didnt know anyone at all from my school or my hometown at BC. During that year, I
took my first study abroad which took me out of my comfort zone completely. The trip was to India, a
place where beauty and tremendous poverty exist side by side. This was a transformative experience
for me and the other students who took the trip together. Everywhere you looked you saw tremendous
poverty in the streets of the large metropolitan areas as well as the small villages that we visited. It was
impossible to avoid the suffering that was visible everywhere. In the big cities, children ran up to the BC
students to ask for money and anything else we might give them. In the smaller places, the poverty was
still endemic, but the people were friendlier and less aggressive than in the big cities like Delhi. A real
highlight was when we were able to put on some traditional Indian clothing and participate in a local
festival.
On my return I took a course which helped me better understand the country that I had just
visited. British imperialism helped to explain much of what I had experienced overseas. The course
charted the history of British Imperialism not only in India, but in countries all over the world. The quote
that the Sun never sets on the British Empire was made abundantly clear by the course which was
taught by Professor Marsh who led our trip through India. The stories which I encountered in the
lectures and readings made the suffering of the people I met in India even more real and unacceptable.
For the long paper in the course, I chose to study the ultimate colonial subject in India: the building of
the capital city of New Delhi by the famous British architect Lutyens. It is ironic that a European style
capital was built there with the riches that England had extracted from Indias resources and with the
blood, sweat and tears of its inhabitants. I have included this essay as one of the artifacts in my
portfolio.
My lingering bad impression of British Imperialism was reinforced by my next study abroad
which was a trip to South Africa. There I saw the after effects of colonialism which had extended until
the 1990s by the apartheid minority government. I have included my impressions of the trip in one of
my artifacts in the portfolio. With study in my British Imperialism course, I was able to see the after
effects of colonialism on the Indian people. However, the after effects of colonialism in South Africa are
visible to anyone who visits there whether or not they have studied it. Nonetheless, the country is still
vibrant and beautiful. Visiting it was a fascinating adventure that I wrote about it in one of my portfolio
artifacts.
This piqued my interest in the effects that colonialism still has on our world today. Another
course in the French department allowed me to see another side of this issue. French colonialism was
aided and abetted by the French Foreign Legion. Through the military power of this group they were
able to enforce their grip on their African colonies. The more historically distant Spanish colonialism in
Latin American can still be seen Latin American politics which I studied in a course last year. I have
included a paper on US-Venezuelan politics as an artifact. This year I am studying Africa in a sociology
class called Cultures of Africa. The powerful effects of imperialism have shaped the post-colonial world
which the independent African nations have been forging both successfully and unsuccessfully. I have
been able to further my knowledge of this subject through classes in a variety of different departments.
My visits to South Africa and India were very powerful because I was able to see firsthand the
poverty which is endemic to both nations. Despite abundant and valuable natural resources, the people
of these nations are not able to enjoy a decent standard of living. In both countries, the British Empire
was able to institute a government of exploitation which allowed their own citizens to become rich and
their home government to become powerful through the natural resources and the labor of the citizens.
My course work drove home the point that colonialism was not exclusively British nor even limited to
India and South Africa. The effects of colonialism still linger in places like Somalia, Niger, Rwanda,
Congo, and Kurdistan. It is even possible to argue that Communist regimes like that in Yugoslavia also
were imperialist in nature by exploiting minority ethnic groups in their midst. I wrote about the
unstable political situation in Somalia which has drawn so much media attention and foreign military
troops in one of my artifact papers.
My French study abroad trip to Guadeloupe let me see that colonialism in paradise was also
possible. The situation in Guadeloupe is still quite different than it was in the two former British
colonies I had visited previously. The people of Guadeloupe are generally poor, but they are
nonetheless citizens of France. Guadeloupe is no longer considered a French colony, but actually
French soil. In Guadeloupe we stayed outside the capital in a home with a local family where I had to
serve as translator for the non-francophones who also were on the trip. The family was friendly and
happy in a tropical paradise. This trip proved to be interesting because of scenery, the people and
unfortunately the local tourist industry (and United Airlines, but thats another story).
The combination of all of these various influences caused me to take up the topic of ethnic
violence in Africa and the Middle East for my Senior Seminar research topic. Colonialism has had a
profound influence on these conflicts. I have always marveled at the lack of sensitivity that the colonial
powers had for the ethnic groups living in the lands they conquered. The borders that the colonists
enacted left populous ethnic groups without a homeland and minorities in multiple countries. This has
led to nationalist movements, civil wars and genocide in multiple locations on different continents.
Political expediency has led to incalculable suffering in the post-colonial period.
Academic learning was not the only benefit of taking three study abroad courses during my
studies at Bridgewater College. One positive aspect of visiting countries which have been disrupted in
their development by colonial powers is the effect it has on your ideas about social justice and the ethics
of standing aside and doing nothing. The struggles of the disenfranchised populations of India, South
Africa and Guadaloupe demonstrate the power of prejudice and ignorance to influence lives decades
and centuries later. Visiting Robben Island and seeing the cell that the great Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in for long years, cannot help but affect you. The Afrikaans people
knew that they were benefiting from the economic hardship of the Bantu people in South Africa just as
white America knew that ethically they were wrong to support separate but equal schools and
discrimination in every facet of life.
On campus at Bridgewater College, ethical development is nurtured by the convocation
program. This program is fully integrated into campus academic life. As will be seen later, even convos
that happened before I got to Bridgewater can touch and inspire me. There have many convos during
my 4 years which have had a profound influence on me. One of the first convos that I saw at BC was one
by Dewey Bozella. His was the story of a person whose life was forever altered by being wrongfully
accused and convicted of a crime that he didnt commit. Bozellas story was one of showing ethical
strength and not giving up. The attorneys who fought for him didnt give up either and showed their
commitment to doing what is right.
Development of an ethical grounding is important in future development of a professional life. I
have seen poverty in life. I volunteered at my church and at food banks to help feed people living below
the poverty line. But my experiences in India, South Africa and Guadaloupe showed me poverty at an
entirely different level. Throughout the developing world there are situations which call out for aid.
The aid cannot just be in money, but also in volunteerism. One outlet for this volunteerism is the Peace
Corps which was developed for the expressed intent of providing all sorts of humanitarian aid all over
the world.
More recent convos were given this fall by Bridgewater College graduates who followed their
conscience and joined the Peace Corps. Alex Murphy and David Barlow both joined the Peace Corps in
order to do something for the world. I mentioned above about all of the poverty that I saw during my
three study abroad trips. Murphy and Barlow not only learned about these facts, they decided to be
part of the solution to the problem. In fact Bridgewater arranged for a Peace Corps representative to
also come to campus so that others might learn about opportunities that may be available for them as
well. Part of ethics is not just knowing what is right and what is just, but also doing it as well. I am not
yet sure that I am mentally and physically strong enough yet to go into the kind of situation that can be
faced in a developing nation. I may end up teaching English to French speaking students in a politically
safer environment instead.
At Bridgewater College students have many opportunities to be involved in the academic
community. These opportunities to express academic citizenship can come in many different forms.
One of my influences came from my study abroad in South Africa. We visited a gold mine where the
miners were working almost a quarter mile underground to exploit this tremendously valuable natural
resource. However, we found out that this comes at an environmental price. Nearly every stream and
river near the gold and diamond mining region is terribly polluted. The natural resources above ground
in terms of water and wildlife are being sacrificed for the resources underground. It helped me
understand that water is a precious resource.
This influenced what I accomplished in one of the outside of classroom opportunities which I
took advantage of during my time at BC: Project Green Challenge. This is a month long program from a
group called Teens Turning Green. This group is dedicated to teaching high school and college students
about current problems with the environment. They focus on sustainability, fair trade, organic farming
and other aspects of what they refer to as a conscious lifestyle. The PGC program consists of a month
long series of daily challenges that force the student to face a different environmental or social justice
problem each day.
In the fall of my junior year in 2013, I decided to take on this challenge in addition to the class
work for that semester. Each day required 3 different activities called green, greener and greenest as
well as extra-credit opportunities. Some of the topics were fair-trade, eco-fashion, genetically modified
organisms, organic cotton, recycling, hemp, and calculating your environmental footprint. I found that
researching each of the activities was a very interesting and stimulating endeavor. I stuck it out
throughout the month and completed every challenge. In the end I was one of the top 15 students of
the thousands that began the process and with my points, Bridgewater College finished in the top 20
institutions as well.
One of the challenges was particularly of interest to me because of what I had learned about the
poor water quality in South Africa. It was on the use of water in our country. One of the videos was by a
woman called Annie Leonard where she charted the use of water by Americans. There are so many
different ways that we waste water. Adding to this was the added waste that comes from drinking
bottled water. She pointed out that all of the plastic that is used and all the transportation energy that
is used to get them to places like BC. Even though recycling of plastic water bottles is theoretically
possible, it is not as nearly as efficient as it could be. I became interested in the topic and one of the last
challenges was called Change and asked for the student to take an active role in trying to make a
change at their institution. I decided to see what I could do to Ban the Bottle at BC. As part of this
effort, I made an oral presentation to a group of students and as an artifact for this portfolio reflection
include a Prezi I made for the PGC project which can be found at this address:

http://prezi.com/pejsxanfuf-z/ban-the-bottle-at-bc/
My first step was to see what was already going on in terms of sustainability at BC. It was great
that we already have taken steps towards being a sustainable university in many ways. I wrote to the
Director of Sustainability at BC, Teshome Molalenge about this topic. I suggested that we try to get a
filtered water station. These Hydration Stations provide bottled water quality hydration for students
to use instead of grabbing a plastic water bottle. They encourage people to drink from reusable water
bottles which eliminate the need for recycling and pollution caused by transportation of the bottles. Dr
Molalenge was very receptive to my idea. It turned out that the director of the anti-bottled water video,
Annie Leonard, had actually been a convocation speaker the year before I got to BC! He said it was just
a matter of cost, but that he would try to put it in the budget again. When I returned to BC for my
senior year, I was really excited to see that over the summer a Hydration Station has been placed in
the KCC for the students to use. I have put a picture of the Hydration Station as one of my portfolio
artifacts. It makes me proud to see the station every time that I pass by it and see a student use it.
As I mentioned earlier, one important focus at Bridgewater College is on health and wellness.
Despite being a small institution, we have a wealth of opportunities to keep ourselves in good physical
shape. We have several gyms including the Funkhouser Center which is available to all of us and other
classroom teaching available. In addition to using the elliptical machines and other equipment, I was
introduced to Yoga through Bridgewater College and learned the basic positions for future reference. I
took a course on wellness which emphasized the importance of diet to me. I had previously taken a
college level course during high school which had taught me some of the basics of nutrition, but the
course at BC challenged my in a personal and not theoretical way. In the class we had to keep a running
list of everything we ate. They taught us what a healthy diet was and then expected us to live up to the
challenge.
I have been a vegetarian for ethical reasons since I was a pre-teen. I couldnt live with myself
knowing what the animals were going through. The course helped me understand that vegetarians had
special concerns to keep in mind when choosing what to eat. I learned that not all protein sources were
equal and further that my diet was not very balanced. I had too much fat through cheese and too much
starch as well. The wellness course hit a number of different subjects and was a good influence on me.
Project Green Challenge also helped remind me of why I became a vegetarian. Through the course of
several challenges I learned more and more horrific facts about the meat industry. The challenge on
environmental footprint showed me how wasteful the meat industry is in terms of energy, water
consumption and waste production. The problem is particularly dire in the cattle industry. One of the
challenges called for Meatless Mondays to encourage students to give up meat, if not entirely, at least
for one day a week. In order to convince my friends to do this last fall, I created a Prezi with facts about
the detrimental effects of meat production for PGC that I have attached as an artifact for this reflection.

http://prezi.com/o070ijrpormm/meatless-monday/
So where do I go from here? The 4 years have passed by quickly and I have made so many
friends here at BC. I have been learning as much as I can about other cultures and their political systems
during my time at Bridgewater. I am fascinated by the differences between all of the countries of the
world. In the short term I want to live overseas and experience more of the cultures first hand. My
current plan is to try to become a member of the Emirates Airlines team and see as many of the
countries of the world as I can experience. These jobs are based in Dubai and extend to a hundred
different destinations. Failing this, I know from the experiences of previous BC students, that many
opportunities to teach English as a foreign language exist in France and other French speaking countries.
Professor Flies has been instrumental in arranging these prospects for my fellow students and has
offered to do the same for me if my Emirates goal cannot be achieved. Longer term, I am interested in
possibly working in consular affairs in a foreign land in which the official language is French. I have
studied many aspects of the wide world through courses in French, Geography, International Studies,
Sociology and Study Abroad program. Through my efforts outside the classroom, I have been exposed
to another set of interesting influences while at Bridgewater College. Now I want to go out and immerse
myself in the mlange of cultures as a global citizen.