September 1st 2011, Orientation Speech by CC Chair

Welcome and good afternoon, fellow students, parents, staff, faculty, administration, and President Lash. As you just heard, my name is Leanna Pohevitz and I am the current Chair of Community Council, Hampshire College's non-traditional spin on community elected government. More importantly perhaps, I am a rising fourth-year at Hampshire about to start my Division III. If all of this sounds like gibberish to you, let's say, I'm a senior about to start my final project at this establishment, and don't worry the lingo will get easier. Needless to say from this vantage point, I couldn't be more jealous of all of you, (the students, not their guardians, I'm not trying to spend that much money). You are just starting out on what many will claim is the 'best time of your life.'

You are from all over the place, different countries, different value systems, different experiences that have made you qualified, independent Hampshire students. My advice is to learn as much from each other as you can. So yeah, here it comes, the part where I tell you to be involved, but I feel like being the Chair of Council gives me a little lee-way to tell you it from the Hampshire point of view.

The way I have found it easiest to learn from each other is to step out there.

First I absolutely must explain that the Hampshire student groups are not, your high school clubs. They are not the varsity sports, with the jerky jocks, nor are they led by the prom queen. They are not baby-sitting, nor simple exercise. Instead they are activities you may actually want to partake in, like Shake and Bake, a group which meets weekly to read a Shakespeare play aloud (complete with voices) while taking turns baking a dessert slyly called something similar to the title of the play such as MacDeath by Chocolate or Culture Brain and Development, a collection of intellectual students who meet to discuss the successes and failures of various articles and experiments from the different fields falling under those umbrella terms. And despite what you may have thought, if you want to play some sports, we have a bunch of those too, Ultimate Frisbee, Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, Swimming and then some.

At Hampshire you will fall in love with every song played by the Stimulus Package and learn to love the smell of our farm, where you will go to pick up your vegetables all Fall.

Its hard to acknowledge or understand what I am saying now, but I promise you you will realize it the first time you go "home." When you talk to Uncle Matt and explain to him that just because the school is in Massachusetts, no not New Hampshire, does not mean you are a Redsox fan now. Or you have to tell Aunt Sue that just because you go to this 'liberal diberal hippy dippy school' does not mean you want to get dreadlocks immediately. But these are the niceties of the experience. My personal favorite part is when someone complains that you don't have grades. "I wouldn't even do homework. Who goes to Class? I would just drink every day." In that moment you will flash to a Philosophy class you had with Professor Sayres Rudy that completely changed how everyone in the room saw the world. You will giggle to yourself, realize on evaluations every time they write "amazing" you get two As and find your own words to explain that you spend every single day of your college career with the most intelligent people you know being changed by Hampshire and its community, and more importantly preparing to change the world.

If you have any interest in Council, its standing committees, anything I have said, asking the questions you're nervous about or free mini golf or let's be honest, free pizza- Monday September 5th we will be meeting at 5:00pm in the bus circle to go play some free mini-golf off-campus - Join us! - Also just a head's up, nominations open that same day, September 5th, for any vacant spots on Council - but you will see more information about that later.

So, though you are not the only ones out there, today is your day entering class of Fall 2011 - congratulations and welcome home.