Life At Ripon – Kaitlyn Welzen ’15

[Editor’s Note: Kaitlyn Welzen ’15, Rachel Detrie ’15, and Clarence Sanon ’15 are writing rotating monthly entries for the Ripon College Newsletter chronicling their senior year experiences. We hope you enjoy their perspectives on Life At Ripon!]

Only one semester left of college. It seems so strange that my four years in Ripon are almost complete. In looking back over that time, I am grateful for all of the fantastic experiences that I have had and the people I have met along the way. I am a much different person than I was when I chose Ripon as my college, but I am glad I did. I feel prepared to enter the work world post-graduation, but it still feels like there is much I need to finish.

In this coming semester I will take a linguistics course, a Spanish literature class on Octavio Paz, a course on environmental communication, and a sociology class about inequality. In four years, I will have completed a double-major in Spanish and Environmental Studies with a minor in Sociology (presuming all goes well). The challenge now is to find a career path that suits me and what I want to do in the future, but first, there are many things I hope to accomplish before May.

This semester, I will continue being the sustainability intern for Sodexo on campus. With my internship, I will learn more about hoop house food production and hopefully expand on the local food that gets served in the Commons. Additionally, Pickard Commons will have three tower gardens installed this January (http://www.towergarden.com/). These are aeroponic systems that grow produce on a vertical structure with water and nutrients circulating to the plants. The system has no soil but rather controlled nutrient levels. Food can be produced faster and without the risks of soil borne bacteria. I am looking forward to learning a new method of growing produce since I hope to continue doing so in the future.

Additionally, I plan to continue teaching Spanish to fifth graders at Quest Elementary and continue in my role as EGOR president. I am hoping to do a little bit more good for Ripon College and the community through volunteering before I leave in a few months.

In thinking about my post-Ripon life, I know that I will miss being here. It will be difficult to leave the campus but more so to move on with my life and face the unknown. I think that is something all graduates experience at some point, and to me it feels strange to be thinking this in January. There are still months before graduation, but I think that time will pass by quickly.

Kaitlyn Welzen ’15

Posted January 15, 2015 in Alumni, Student.

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