Aaron Johnson
When newly-hired Professor Jami Ake first addressed the group of eager, bright-eyed freshman enrolled in her English Composition class, one brave student raised his hand to comment on her reading list.
“Did you know that all these books were written by women?” he asked.
Responding with a characteristic feminism, Ake replied, “Yes. Would you have said that if they’d all been written by men?”
As seniors frantically search for viable employment, try on their caps and gowns, and prepare themselves for the immediacy of the “real world,” the Washington University community has also paused to reflect upon the seniors’ past four years here.
Fred Hawkins splits his time between making wraps in the Mallinckrodt food court and serving eager patrons at the Rat. During the workday, Hawkins talks to students about classes, studying, and stress.
“I’m cool with some of the seniors,” said Hawkins. “I noticed what they looked like before they took their exams and how they looked after them.”
Hawkins has developed relationships with seniors, trading jokes or discussing their majors. He noticed that seniors “put their studies ahead more than the undergraduates.”
In addition to a renewed commitment to their studies, Hawkins said seniors try to be healthier than their younger counterparts. He said he could pick a senior out of a crowd.
“You could tell by their eating habits,” said Hawkins. “The seniors eat better than the underclassmen do. There are more seniors that eat at the Rat than eat (at Mallinckrodt), probably because there’s beer at the Rat. There’s a different atmosphere.”
Assistant Dean and Academic Coordinator Warren Davis sees students in a more serious frame of mind. His work with both advisees and student groups lends him an insight to the seniors’ growing maturity.
“In my own advisees I’ve noticed people mature over four years,” said Davis. “I work closely with a student group on campus, the Mock Trial team, and over four years they’ve really changed and developed, and so senior year they’re very polished.”
While WU has undergone changes in curriculum, faculty, and in new buildings around campus, Davis said the university’s priorities and goals have stayed the same.
“By and large I think its the same since the community is there,” said Davis. “The values, the core, hasn’t changed.”
Davis has grown attached to many seniors, but is pragmatic about their upcoming departure.
“Sometimes you want people to stay on but they’ve got to get on with their lives,” said Davis. “You’re going to miss them but I’m confident that they’ll make an impact elsewhere in the nation and worldwide.”
Bennie Hill, a 28 year veteran of the campus bookstore, also admired the seniors’ growing maturity. She said the thing she likes most is being able to watch the students change from “babies” just out of high school, to adults able to survive on their own.
Hill forges strong relationships with the students who work at the bookstore. Many begin work as freshmen, and then keep working through senior year.
But even four years at one of the nation’s top universities doesn’t keep all students from an occasional slip-up. Working in the bookstore one day, Hill noticed a student hide two books in his gown bag.
“I told the people working here, ‘Watch him, he’s going to try to steal them,'” said Hill. “I just had a feeling about it. And I was right. That was really dumb and stupid. How can you go here all four years and do something like that?”
Watching intimidated freshmen grow up is one of the perks of the job for Hill. She recognizes students who come in every semester for a new load of books, kids whose parents proudly shop for WU wear, and those who just stop by to purchase a pack of gum.
“I love them,” said Hill. “I’ve seem then coming in here and they don’t know how to write checks – scared and immature. I’ve seen them mature, get that self-esteem up, and know what they want to do in life.”
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