When I was accepted at Middlebury as a "Feb" [shorthand for the group of students who begin their Middlebury careers each winter in February, rather than in September], my father was ecstatic. He told me that I had eight free months to fill on my own with the safety net of starting at Middlebury in February. He was right. Middlebury essentially said to me: Take this time to go away, to dream, to see and do that which you have always wanted, and then bring it all back with you to campus and tell us about it.

I feel that this has been a great theme of my time here at Middlebury. From teaching photography to ninth graders at a local middle school, to living off campus, to studying and working abroad in Uganda, I have been supported by the Middlebury community before, during and after my time away. In terms of my off-campus experiences, I have consistently received emotional support from friends and faculty, financial support from campus departments and commons, course credit for my outside experiences, and, perhaps most importantly, an avenue for sharing these experiences and building upon them here at school.

Last November I walked out the front door of my off-campus house and down Route 30 to cast my presidential vote with the rest of Cornwall, Vermont. It felt good to express my citizen's voice as a member of the Middlebury College community, as well as the larger Vermont community that the College has helped me come to know and love during my years here.

I feel at home on campus. But I've found that my life outside these walls-and the support I've received to pursue those endeavors-has informed the quality of study, of relationships, and of life here in general.