Student Life & Culture
Sandy Waters '71
On the Oberlin student body: "My Oberlin friends came from... all over the place. All races and all faiths, they had attended both public and private high schools... they were independent, intellectually curious, intelligent, and involved." [more]Jane Sandberg '10
On facing fears: "Sometimes the best way to get over an issue is to throw yourself into the middle of it and figure out how to make it work for you. This was the story of my first year at Oberlin... Oberlin is a field of such diverse ideas and possibilities." [more]Brandi Ferrebee '10
On alumni support: "I've had the good luck to have several incredible alums on my side, helping me through those new experiences I've chosen and nudging me towards the new ones which they instinctively know I will need." [more]Noah Morris '12
On meeting neighbors: "I heard several shouts of 'Come in!' and someone opened the door slightly. I'd braced myself for a lot of possibilities, but what I found still surprised me. As I entered, I found myself in a full-blown body-art party." [more]Rose Wesche '12
On living in a program house: "I can't wait to return to Asia House in the fall. I believe that program houses offer a concentrated version of Oberlin-- fellowship, community, and learning all packed together into single buildings." [more]Jaremy Rich '07
On defining Oberlin: "There are thousands of attributes, numbers and statistics that you could chime off that make Oberlin marginally better or worse than any given institution...what the Princeton Review or the US News and World Report cannot calculate, however, is the Oberlin community." [more]Amanda Nichols '12
On making a video for an Ellen DeGeneres Show contest: "I had only known these people for a couple of months, and I was not only asking them to dance and sing in a public place, but I was also potentially asking them to do it on national television (if we won)." [more]Tanya Rosen-Jones '97
On her Oberlin experience: "At Oberlin... I could design my own path. And I did just that, becoming more brave and adaptable with each new adventure. Being a student here makes you acutely aware of your own unlimited potential." [more]Elizabeth Taylor Quilliam '74
On the influence of an Oberlin education: "Oberlin was not simply a 4-year stopping point, but has been and continues to be an essential part of my journey. It taught me to be ever vigilant in seeking social justice, curious, caring, open to new opportunities, compelled to help others." [more]Anna Ernst '10
On her first-year dorm: "I hope that incoming Obies who decide to live in Barrows or Dascomb will experience the same feeling I felt often my first year... It was simple, but I felt like I was home. I think that's good community for you." [more]Tim Russell '92
On acceptance at Oberlin: "Oberlin opened a world to me that I never knew existed ... It represented the diversity that the world has to offer, not just race and ethnicity, but religion and sexual orientation, in a safe and nurturing community." [more]Jim Sunshine '46
On getting to Oberlin and returning: "Once here, I never looked back. I went off to war, came back after three years, graduated in 1949, married a classmate in Fairchild Chapel, took up that career in journalism, and returned 56 years later to live at Kendal on the edge of the campus." [more]Peter Rathjens '81
On watching his son attend Oberlin: "As much as Jake's experience is distinct from mine, I'm glad that Oberlin is in no rush to move past the values and culture that provided me with so much 25 years ago, and that are serving Jake so well today." [more]Louis Grube '09
On the culture of Oberlin: "We carry ourselves with an air of courtesy and responsibility to others that shows itself daily in both our smallest actions and in our viewpoints about the way the world should be." [more]Ryan Brazell '05
On the Oberlin ethos: "It's about refusing to put ANYONE into a box, regardless of what they may appear to be on the surface. It's about treating others with dignity, and kindness, and respect, regardless of whether you agree with or even understand another's point of view." [more]Lisa Amor Petrov '85
On living in the Women's Collective: "I was blessed by the intimacy that can come from searching, together with other women, for an understanding of what it means to be a feminist." [more]Jill Herman '77
On her path from Oberlin: "I began thinking I wanted to be a teacher and a poet and left knowing I wanted to be a lawyer...What I probably didn't appreciate fully while I was at Oberlin are the intangibles that make it so unique and that played such a major role in forming my adult self." [more]Megan Schulte '94
On her time at Oberlin: "Graduating was like ripping off my right arm. But it was Oberlin that bolstered me and created a foundation from which I could truly plunge into the world of the possible." [more]Sam Quintal '06
Elizabeth Myers Houston on her housemate Sam: "...the picture of him in his fancy clothes on his cobbled-together bicycle struck me as a perfect summary of Oberlin: ingenuity, skillfully creative awesomeness, and musical excellence, all incorporated casually into everyday life." [more]Aaron Mucciolo '02
On ObieGame: "Five years ago two Obies created a game. Showing great wit, they named it ObieGame. Beyond this, facts are amorphous at best." [more]Mathilda McGee-Tubb '07
On education at Oberlin: "If allowing oneself to get to this point of utter submission to the universe of knowledge isn't fearless, then I don't know what is." [more]Sue Angell '99
On being a non-traditional student: "I came to Oberlin in 1995, as a 22 year-old transfer student and the mother of a two year-old boy... determined to get the type of education that would help me raise my son as a single mom." [more]
Our goal is to collect 1000 Oberlin stories, and so far we have 130. If you are an Oberlin student, alum, professor, or staff member, you can help by contributing your story.
