I was under the impression that when I got to college, people would be discussing science, politics, religion, literature and social issues. I thought that was what my liberal arts education had in store for me. When I got here, it seemed people on the Hawk Hill campus were just not as openly interested in these discussions. I thought, “Dang, maybe I’m just the odd one out.” I simply felt out of place, and I lowkey felt like Jaden Smith. If you know, you know.

I also was once not as interested in these things, but I realized it may be morally irresponsible of me to choose not to care when people around me were being harmed. Even if I couldn’t do anything to help, it seemed it was probably better to inform myself, even just a little. I realized things did not have to directly affect me for me to care.

As I progressed through my undergraduate career here, my assertions about people being interested in dialogue about current events and general ideas were simultaneously challenged and reinforced. My friends who transferred here from other institutions and friends who sought to transfer out of St. Joe’s affirmed my view; it seemed this was an insular place. But I also met people here who were very active in politics, media and dialogue and were writing about topics I cared about more than I was.

It seems the reality is that, just like anywhere, there are discrete pockets of engagement at this school. But I wonder, what would campus be like if the general student body embraced a culture of engagement in dialogue about things from culture to current events?

A friend of mine once said something along the lines of, “Not everyone needs to be Plato, but you gotta at least be willing to play with the dough.” She’s funny. I wonder what a Hawk Hill campus where the student body “played with the dough” of social issues, politics, topics of interfaith, science, religion and general culture would look like. I wonder if this could become a house of wisdom.