Posts tagged Bennington college

Just like most communities at Bennington, the queer community is apparent in various ways. We have a group called queer @ Bennington which can be a great resource. Bennington, like most any college, is a space for you to come in with a mainly-blank slate to really explore yourself as a person, questioner, and thinker. I think Bennington establishes a safer space for queer identified or questioning youth to do just that.

If you are looking to see if you will fit in here, no worries… you will find like-minded people and be a part of various communities. As a queer individual myself, I am personally not very involved in the queer @ Bennington group; however, I still feel a part of the queer community on campus. There are various ways to be involved as a queer person on campus. I took a bunch of people to the gender and queer conference at Hampshire this term and that was a wonderful way to spend part of my weekend! If you have any other questions or just want to chat about this more, please feel free to contact me at alanac@bennington.edu

I know I can only speak for myself, but I have felt very accepted here. I have enjoyed meaningful conversations with friends, events through SWAG (Sexual Wellness Awareness Group) that have opened my eyes to other conversations, and finding general acceptance of various identities on campus.
-Alana ‘15 

The pool’s in town, and there’s at least one student (Glennis H. ‘15) who goes almost daily.

The basketball court is next to the tennis courts and soccer field, on the west end of campus. There’s a group that plays at a local elementary school in the winter (not against elementary schoolers - they would crush us).

The only “squash court” we have is in the student garden. Summer squash is one of our biggest crops, and we get great squash-based dishes in the fall. D-lish.

- David ‘13

I asked my friend Sara Green to answer this one — she’s an expert.
-Alan ‘15

Hey! It’s really neither. Instead what you have is sort of an awkwardness when questions or comments about race are brought up. My experience has been that people would rather not talk about race- students of color and white students alike. Alas, hope is alive! Recently, there has been a small group of students that is creating spaces to talk about race in academic and student-led spaces. I could talk forever about race at Bennington. Email me if you want to keep talking; there are a lot of intricacies in the conversation. (sgreen@bennington.edu)

Don’t worry! If it still hasn’t come through in a couple of days I recommend shooting your councilor an email or giving the office a call: 800-833-6845. You’ll have plenty of time to fill everything out. In the meantime… 

-Selina ‘15

Just this online link.

-Selina ‘15

I’ll be around this summer and that sounds like a great project! I’ll keep you updated. Glennis will also be around and since she studies design I bet we could come up with something good. 

Looking forward to it!

-Selina ‘15 

Every Bennington student has a Greenwall story. It’s the registration event that takes place in Greenwall Auditorium where you can add or drop classes for the upcoming term. It can be stressful but if you just take a deep breath and realize that your life doesn’t depend on securing the perfect schedule you’ll be fine. Teachers are very reasonable and if there’s a class you really want you can always get on the wait list and keep showing up until they let you in. Michael’s looking nervous but really don’t freak out!

-Selina and Michael ‘15

Bennington approaches education from a different foundation than what you’d typically find in a major/minor system. Here’s a great explanation of Bennington’s divergence from that system.

After checking in with a resident Anthropology professor here, the social science skills you acquire at Bennington could be utilized through a couple different dimensions. Firstly, studying social science hones your critical thinking skills, which are especially relevant to life in a post modern world. More concretely, you could pursue a career in the NGO/non-profit sector, civil society, international relations, or academia among other things. Typically after getting a BA social science students go onto grad school though many work for a couple years beforehand.

-Michael and Selina ‘15

That really depends. In my experience my advisor has pushed me to pursue FWTs related to my plan and areas of concentration. However, if you found a position that really peaked your interest chances are you can relate in some way to what you’re studying, even if the connection isn’t super explicit. Below are some photos of the globe outside the FWT office with colored dots indicating FWT sites. Big cities like New York always clock in with the 100+ count!

-Selina ‘15