CC honors 190 students

	CC's annual Honors & Awards ceremony took place Wednesday, April 18.

The best teachers tell stories, and the best stories are about life lessons.

"The moments and stories are what students take away from learning," said Ann Sloan Devlin, the May Buckley Sadowski '19 Professor of Psychology. "Life lessons somehow have a way of becoming the best teaching moments."

Devlin spoke Wednesday night at the College's annual Honors & Awards ceremony. Almost 200 students were honored for excellence in everything from botany to dance during a festive evening in the College Center at Crozier-Williams.

Faculty, parents, staff and friends cheered as students stepped forward to accept citations and prizes from President Leo I. Higdon, Jr. It was also a night for honoring the professors, alumni and friends of the College for whom awards were established.

Devlin was the keynote speaker for the evening. She earned the honor by winning the College's John S. King Memorial Teaching Award last fall.

Devlin said the best stories have a narrative that holds them together; a "how to" element that shows how to learn by doing; and a message of some sort. Stories, she said, help people make connections and remember the whole picture, not just bits of information.

Conn is great at helping students develop the "how to" aspect of stories, to take on projects and be leaders, Devlin said. "Doing things is what I think Connecticut College is all about," she said.

Devlin told the students that in some sense, no matter their field or career, each of them will become a teacher. As teachers, they should remember that people become what you expect them to become, she said. She urged them to share themselves with their "students," give time, be compassionate—and tell stories.

"What you will take away are the stories ... where we slow down and really talk to one another," she said. "Your life will be more fulfilled at the end of the day if you tell some stories."