April 6, 2006

To: The Faculty and Staff of Warren Wilson College

Major: History Political ScienceSecondary Education

I would like to start by saying my years at Warren Wilson College have been fruitful and a great overall experience. There have been bumps along the way but I will always remember Warren Wilson College in a positive light, but never forget its troubles.

Having to write a letter to describe my three and a half years at Warren Wilson College is definitely challenging. But I think that this letter is a good reflection technique to help bring depth to the entire experience. I did not come to Warren Wilson College right from High School, I transferred to Warren Wilson College from Old Dominion University in Norfolk VA halfway through my freshman year.

Academics:I think the History/Political Science Department provides a good education. I

would especially like to thank (in no particular order) Lynne Pohl, Phil Otterness, Tom Showalter and Ruth Currie. The Senior History Seminar was very enjoyable it helped the students feel like they are contributing to the history of the college by using primary sources gathered from the archives. I really enjoyed the assignment.

The Education Department has been an interesting experience. I took all the required classes but it was challenging to work on the relationship between making sure that I know my content in History and learning about the Secondary Education. My best experience has been the extensive experiences from the fieldwork.

My worst experience happened during my junior year I was unfortunate to have two classes with an adjunct, Terry Caselnova. The two classes were Educational Psychology and Foundations of Education they were worthless and I am unfortunately the one who paid to take these classes and lost out on this experience. I wanted to graduate on time and that was the only time to take those courses. I would encourage Warren Wilson College education department to attract stronger candidates. Though I totally understand this is probably very challenging for a year only position. I stopped attending Foundations of Education, for the last month and took the exam, which was common sense and I did fine.

In terms of the education department, I would like to first thank my host teacher, Lisa Stamey who receives no compensation from the school, but who has helped me tirelessly over my student teaching experience as a teacher and advocate. Without the support of my host teacher I would not have succeeded.

The meetings every Thursday in my opinion has not been worth my time. It just does not make sense for both secondary and elementary student teachers to be in the same meeting. Possibly instead of having a meeting every week do it ever other week. I think we should also spend more time focusing on what is working and share this with other student teachers than just having a session of complaining about what is not working.

I would like to thank the people in the education department for their support Nancy Hoffman, Lynne Firsel, Annie Jonas, Pat Tuttle and Laura Turchi.

Service:Service has been one of the great parts of the “triad” experience. It has fostered a

sense of camaraderie and friendship that I have not experienced in other opportunities on campus. I went on the Jacksonville Florida trip with Bruce and Keri Willever, which was a great experience. We did service at five different organizations and it helped to learn about a city with problems and does a little bit to help out. I also went to Cumberland Island Georgia with Tom LaMuragalia, which despite the intense bugs was a great and intense experience. I have enjoyed the component of service and I am glad it is a part of the Warren Wilson College degree requirements.

World Wide:The worldwide experience is a great opportunity and I am glad it is a component

though I wish everyone could spend a whole semester overseas. I went on the Malta course with Dusty Benedict and Ian Robertson. It was a great time and was lead by two excellent individuals. I extended my airfare and traveled through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Switzerland, which was obviously amazing.

Work Program:The third component of the Triad is the work program. I have enjoyed this

opportunity immensely and could argue that I feel I learned more at the Auto Shop than in any academic class. I first worked for Fredrick Solomon and Echo as maintenance for the Spidel building. I then switched to the Auto Shop with Ray Cockrell as my crew boss. Mr.Cockrell has many qualities that make him the ideal crew boss, such as being a teacher and a great friend. I think his position needs to be expanded to have another workers because the size of this school and Ray’s responsibilities have grown drastically and he is expected to do more, yet he is only one man. I was principal in purchasing the 1992 Chevrolet Kodiak CAT diesel, which will be the new logging truck. I think this is my most important contribution to the college. I found the truck, worked on the price and was able to get it purchased.

I think the Work Program is changing and unsure of its goal. This is because the Work Program has no mentors to model after. It has been happening for a long time that the jobs are becoming more and more skilled and you simply can’t learn all you need in fifteen-hour weeks. Plus the crew bosses must do their job and don’t always have the time to teach the students.

Dorm Life: I lived in Sunderland for freshman year. I moved to the newly constructed dorm

(actually we stayed at the Blue Ridge YMCA. The dorm was not finished and even though we moved in about a month into the school year we had workers (non-school) in our rooms for another month. The design was very flawed (such as having handicap seats and bathrooms on the second floor, which was not handicap accessible. The construction was poor, with rocks falling out of the exterior walls. The school needs to figure out a way to make dorm fines make more sense and have more accountability. I feel like some

fines are based on things that should have been constructed to a higher standard and that Facilities Management and Technical Services is trying to pass the fines onto the student. Sure it is a hard task, but see what other schools due.

I lived in Schafer B and got to enjoy the good and bad parts of communal living. I lived in Ballfield A my last semester to have a quiet place to live while I was student teaching. I am glad to see the new dorm being built by a seemingly reputable company. I hope the school will slow down on building and spend the money acquiring more land. Land is something that is going up in price every year; in twenty years those factories behind the school are going to be gone. Please don’t let another Craggy View happen again. Warren Wilson College is a small oasis in the middle of a place with massive development.

Dam Pasture:The most unfortunate events in my time at Warren Wilson College was the arrest

of 38 students for an “unauthorized gathering” on campus. Even the high priced lawyer that the school had hired said that they needed to keep the Bubba tradition alive. I think that the Bubba’s, even in there highly modified format would not be in existence had it not been for the actions of those 38 members of the campus. This was a major mess-up and a publicity disaster for the school. It didn’t help that the sexual assault issues came up at about the same time.

I had brought my camera simply to take pictures with my friends at the party. It was never (truly) my intention to get arrested I was planning on taking some wild and crazy photos with my friends. I was planning to leave but was astonished in what manner the police officers acted towards the students, with our loyal security officer Rick present. Let it be said that it is obvious that the police used pepper spray, which they subsequently denied. (I will submit a copy of all the photos and article to the archive. I felt obligated by the actions of the police to document the event through pictures. The police did not take kindly to the flashing of the camera and promptly arrested me.) (I said I was a member of the school newspaper, a blatant lie but the situation was in a lot of respects dire.) I love that I was charged with Trespassing on property I pay to attend. It also is sad that the police are not accountable to their actions; they said they did not use force (pepper spray) but my pictures definitely show to the contrary.

Even today two years later I am having problems with making sure my record is clean, which I have waited more than a year for all the charges to be expunged.

General Thoughts: The fact about Warren Wilson College is in many ways its own bubble. I think

that Warren Wilson College does not have a good repore with the outside community and thus is stereotyped by the groups that the school could form a better relationship. What about a community outreach program. While student teaching I was sometimes worried about saying I went to Warren Wilson College because I was worried I would not be taken seriously. But through my dress, mannerisms and actions I was able to become the guy that people say “You don’t look like the usual Warren Wilson Student.

Warren Wilson College is constantly trying to figure out its place. It is obviously a small college but it attempts to offer as many majors as big schools and because of this I think the school loses its focus, it spreads itself to thin, and then the majors are watered

down. I think this is what is happening in the secondary education department. I think the Academic Dean needs to look closely and decide what niche Warren Wilson College can fill. Why not focus on a few key majors and make the programs really strong and integrate the work program closer to some majors.

The Future:This summer I will be spending the summer volunteering as Summer Staff at

Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Kandersteg Switzerland (www.kisc.ch). After the summer, I plan to move back to Richmond, Virginia and teach High School Social Studies.

Warren Wilson has been a marvelous experience and I can feel how I have matured in the last few years. Warren Wilson College fills a niche in the world of higher education, a niche I think needs to be filled.

Thanks a bunch.

Sincerely submitted,

William Tyler Grove