Education
Chase Palmer '08
On opportunity: "I spent many years grappling with what type of profession I wanted to pursue in my life. I considered medicine, legal work, and many other paths. But one thing always remained the same: my passion for helping others reach their full potential." [more]Susan Cowan Knebel '60
On learning to teach literacy: "I had answered a call for volunteer tutors in a night school created by a gentleman who was born a slave. Literate, he wanted to help folks from the South who had come north for jobs in Ohio and couldn't read or write." [more]Jessica Levine '95
On the level of teaching at Oberlin: "Great teachers make a difference in our lives because they knew how to support us and how to push us. Educators at Oberlin do so in the most masterful way. They are both craftsman and scholars. They are activists and orators; passionate and inspirational." [more]Sean Nagamatsu '07
On learning to be a writing tutor: "It was not simply a course in how one tutors. It was an exploration of writing as a catalytic form of expression and interaction. It was the complete taking apart of how I put together words and the subsequent attempt at putting myself back together afterwards." [more]Prof. Sebastiaan Faber
On an Oberlin education: "One of the most important things you will learn here is to express yourself, to engage in dialogue, to respect others' ideas, and to allow them to change your own." [more]Jabali Sawicki '00
Contributed by Prof. Laurie McMillin: "Jabali left Oberlin in 2000 with a degree in Biology and no set plans. But he knew he wanted to teach... At the age of 27, he became the principal of Excellence Charter School in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn." [more]Katrina Forman '10
On the Immigrant Worker Project: "While many people tend to see Oberlin as "in the middle of nowhere," ... I would say that the most rewarding parts of my education have come from outside the traditional classroom, and often from the rest of Lorain County." [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.
