True Student-Athletes!

We are ecstatic that our 2010 team earned the 2nd highest team GPA in all of DIII women's lacrosse!! Our team's 3.458 GPA trailed only Bates College's 3.470 GPA. As such, the team was awarded Merit Academic Team Status by the IWLCA.

This is the second year in a row that our team has earned Merit Academic Team Status. Our 2009 team earned the 3rd highest team GPA in all of DIII women's lacrosse with a 3.438 GPA.

As proud as we are of our team's accomplishments on the field this past season, we are even more excited about their achievements in the classroom. Great work ladies!!

Katharine Farrar '11's Summer on Campus

This week we are checking in with co-captain Katharine Farrar '11 (Lexington, VA/Episcopal HS) regarding her summer working on campus at W&L as a part of the R.E. Lee Summer Research Projects:
1) How have you been spending your summer?
I have been working on campus in the Tucker Multimedia Center. My job this summer was to help develop a course that will be offered in the Education department; Methods in Teaching a Foreign Language. My main job in the development of this course was to create the student teaching unit. This opportunity was part of the R.E. Lee Summer Research Project here on campus.

2) How long have you been working on campus?

My work started on June 7th and will work for eight weeks total.

3) Where are you living?
I have been living with my parents in town this summer…I had to take advantage of the home cooked meals!!!!

4) What does your normal day look like?
I usually wake up around 8, get into work by 9, take a break for lunch and then work through the afternoon until I head to the gym. I mostly work on the computer all day; creating word documents, websites, lesson plans etc.

5) What has been the best part of your experience so far?
I would say that the best part of my experience so far would have to be that I am actually applying things I have learned in my classes over the past 3 years into something concrete. It is rewarding to know that there is a final product from the work I have put in this summer.

6) What has been the most challenging part of your experience?
Learning how to create a web page through the server that W&L uses has been the most challenging part of my experience. I am not too tech savvy when it comes to that sort of thing…I usually rely on Wilton, our handy dandy University Help Desk teammate, to do those things for me.

7) Is there anything else that you would like to share with teammates, alums and other blog readers?
I can’t wait to see everyone in the fall!!!

Kathy Brown '11's Organic Farming Adventure

This week we are checking in with Senior Defender Kathy Brown (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville HS) regarding her summer travels and working adventure in Oregon:

1) What have you been doing this summer?

I spent one month this summer out in Southeastern Oregon working on an Organic Farm. I found the opportunity through a work exchange website that a high school friend has used in her travels to Hawaii a few years ago.

2) Where did you live?

My friend and I were living on the farm in what was dubbed the "Cabin- Tent." It was a free standing tent that was set -up with two twin beds, a bedside table and lamp, along with a chest of drawers. It was pretty deluxe for technically living and sleeping outside. We even had our own screen room.

3) What did a normal day on the farm consist of for you?

A normal work day consisted of a fresh morning breakfast followed by watering plants/trees, weeding, tending to the vegetables, and occasionally planting or harvesting when needed. The mid afternoon was usually hammock time or free time to play with the two kittens on the ranch. Then dinner duties were split between me and my friend and another couple who was working on the farm. The group dinner usually stretched from sunset until bedtime more or less.

The day I just described actually sounds pretty tame and relaxing but there was never a normal moment on the ranch. Between the animals and the cast of town characters stopping by, the conversatioin was very colorful.

While we were in Lakeview, OR we managed to attend an "internal exercise" class that one of the farm owner's was hosting (imagine waking up at 6 to pound your stomach in search of what I only know as my "dahn jahn"), we elminated one of the farm chickens and ultimately made a lovely chicken soup, and attended what we thought was Oregon's most beautiful hotspring only to find ourselves trapped at the grimiest motel pool on the west coast.

4) What was the best part of your experience?

The ability to travel and meet people was really exciting. I saw Portland, and met up with Lauren Acker for dinner! Lived in Lakeview (the tallest town in Oregon), make a quick tip over the board to New Pine Creek, California and traveled to the lovely outdoorsy Bend, OR (with Beverly, the owner's 76 -year- old mother).

5) What was the most challenging part of your experience?

The work was tiring, but I don't really feel like anything I experienced on my brief trip lasted long enough to be truly challenging. Because of the length of the trip, any problems it was easy to put any problems in perspective and push through.

6) Anything else that you would like to share with teammates, alums or other blog readers?

I definitely recommend helpx.net or WWOOF-ing if you are interested in supplementing an extended travel trip anywhere in the world. They can provide an opportunity with some work and a chance to share a home and meals with an area resident. (The other couple on the ranch was from Moscow and they were spending 3.5 weeks of a 6 month venture WWOOFing)