Sally Pendergast '08
At Connecticut College, all my supposedly separate experiences seamlessly intersect. My academics, athletics, study abroad experiences and service to others inform and affect one another.
I majored in American studies because I longed for deeper engagement with the social issues facing our country. The major focuses strongly on the role that race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomics have played in history, and this meshes well with my interest in social justice issues. The department has provided an intellectual and academic framework for my work in the community and has enabled me to put my service learning in context. We are also encouraged to look critically at the role of America in the world, which I think is an important component of any liberal arts education.
I am in the certificate program of the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy, and I am studying the social resources available to at-risk pregnant mothers in the New London community. I am currently a house diversity coordinator, and I volunteer in the College's Children's Program. For three years also I volunteered with the Early Head Start program in New London and in the local schools with the College's Kids, Books and Athletics program. I organized the first Connecticut College team to walk in the AIDS Walk Boston for the past two years. I also play women's club soccer.
I am extremely proud of Connecticut College, not just as an academic institution, but also as a safe place where I can develop and take risks. I challenge anyone to find a place more dynamic, more caring and more supportive. I have been given a realistic understanding of the world today, but managed to keep my idealism intact. I am going to graduate in May with an informed mind and an open, optimistic heart. That, to me, is the true worth of a liberal arts education.