It's a very open environment that fosters personal growth. There are a lot of diverse people here in terms of ethnicity and who are from different regions of the world that have a lot to share about where they come from and their views on things. This is a great place to gain perspective about how complicated the world is and that there isn't always one right answer to a problem because the problem is generally multidimensional.

When I tell people that I go to Smith, they are like, oh...that's nice. Most of them don't know what this place is, or if the do, they already have preconceptions about what an all-girls college is like.

I love the academics at Smith because it's one of those aspects of Smith that can be a great resource depending on ho much you want it. Every class here is helpful whether it's hard or not hard because the information that is taught is generally very interesting and the teachers are really passionate about teaching it. My favorite class by far was AMS 230: Narratives of Internment. We were just talking about the stories of the Japanese internees in California when someone brought up the idea that it'd be really cool to go on a pilgrimage to where they were interned. I didn't think that this idea would actually turn into reality where our wonderful teacher, Floyd Cheung, actually found enough funds to provide all of his students in the class an opportunity to fly to California and visit the pilgrimage site where so much history that we studied there happened. We prepared for the visit by reading lots of personal stories about internees and about the history of it from the government's point of view. The trip completed our classroom teachings by bringing everything together. It was by far the best class ever because 1) the teacher didn't treat us like we were below him and valued our opinion as much as any other person, 2) he wanted to make our education about this class the best that it could be and went well beyond what was expected to provide us with the amazing opportunity to take the pilgrimage trip. The class is not one that most people would have picked because it is popular, but beacuse they were curious. This curiosity and the ability to act on it and take the class turned into one of the best experiences of my life.

I feel that our campus is very diverse, but that we are also clustered into groups on campus. At lunch, people of the same ethnicity and race generally sit with each other and it's kind of initmidating. I'm all for being around people that are like you, but sometimes, I feel like it is a private club based on your culture and where you come from.

I'm iinvolved in the Smith Swim Team and it is the most amazing bunch of girls ever. We are the only team on campus that can boast a lot of team spirit. As a sport, swimming can be a team sport or a individual sport, but the way that we "BANANAS" work is as a team. We suffer through practices together 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day and we create a bond with each other than is unlike any that I've experienced even in high school sports. I also feel a lot has to do with the fact that we are all at Smith not because we want to excel at sports, but for academics. But we do happen to all love swimming and so we join the swim team. There is no pressure to perform at a level that exceeds what you can do, but there is enough motivation for you to go that extra mile to reach a goal that is a stretch for you. Athletics aren't supported enough at Smith, but I'm not exactly sure how to explain it. It maybe the fact that we don't have a team mascot that brings us all together, but I know that we are currently in the process of figuring out that problem.

That we're all gay and are feminists.

No. Some people at Smith are gay and some people are feminists, but that doesn't apply to the whole student body.

I hated Smith at first, but the I learned to love it...not because I got used to the lifestyle here, but because I took a deeper look at the things that I didn't like about this place and realized that they weren't bad because of it's nature, but it was because I didn't understand it and how to deal with it. I couldn't be happier now:)