What Students Really Say About Farmington


Why Farmington?
It just seemed like the right place to be.

How did you hear about Farmington?
I actually looked at Farmington when I was a senior in high school. They sent me some materials in the mail and I thought it was really cool — it had a really cool font and was printed on cool paper.

Why did you decide to transfer to Farmington?
I have a friend who goes here. I came up to visit her and I really liked it, so I decided I would come here.

What attracted you to Farmington?
First of all, it's a really open campus, and my old college didn’t have a Women’s and Gender Studies major. They had only just started offering a minor. Then I came to Farmington my friend told me she had taken a couple of classes with the Women’s and Gender Studies professors here and she said they were awesome. I actually attended a domestic violence awareness march and met one of the Farmington professors there. I remember thinking to myself, "Well that's pretty cool — Farmington's Women’s and Gender Studies professors actually walk the walk."

Was transferring to Farmington a difficult decision?
It was a pretty huge personal decision but I just knew that my other school just wasn’t the right place for me to be. I was wasting my time there. It just wasn’t a good fit.

As a transfer student will you graduate on time?
Yes. As long as I do my internship in the spring or summer I'll graduate on time.

How would you describe the Farmington community?
It’s a liberal arts campus that really tries to be liberal in the sense of having people explore all sorts of different areas. It’s just incredibly welcoming. There’s definitely a community among the students and the faculty too. They seem very interested in fostering an intellectual development. And the town of Farmington seems genuinely happy to have college students here. It just seems like a cradle of education. My other school, and the town in, wasn’t as fostering, as nurturing.

How did you choose your Women’s and Gender Studies major?
When I transferred to Farmington, I said was interested in Women’s Studies and Environmental Science. Women’s Studies was listed first, so the head of the Women’s Studies department became my faculty advisor. It just came together. I kind of fell into this major but it was pretty much what I wanted. It all worked out because I am not very good at making decisions, so I’m glad.
 
What sets Farmington's Women’s and Gender Studies program apart?
The program isn’t just any one thing. It’s interdisciplinary, meaning it’s cumulative and individualized. It draws from all the other fields. Every student who takes classes in the Women’s and Gender Studies program here — whether they're a major, minor, or if they just take a couple of classes — can really tailor their own studies. For instance, the students in my senior seminar, we’ll all graduate with the same degree, but everything we do is very different and our final projects are entirely unique. You learn can look at lots of different things from lots of different angles, and the idea is that you get some sort of understanding out of it as a whole.

What is a strength of the Women’s and Gender Studies program here?
Because the program is really interdisciplinary there are lots of cross-listed courses. The required courses like Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies, introduce you into the whole major and what it is all about. I took one called Cultural Studies in Gender and Sexuality, which also examined Sociology/Anthropology. We had two professors, and the class would meet and break up into two parts, the Sociology/Anthropology group and the Women’s and Gender Studies group. After our discussion, we would go into our separate areas and have in-depth discussions, and then meet again at the end. It was really interesting to get such different perspectives.

What can you do with Women’s and Gender Studies degree?
You can pretty much do anything with it. It is really interdisciplinary — you can go into any field you want, because it draws from so many areas. It really makes you understand how things function and how they are interconnected. For instance, I’m really interested in the environment. And with my degree, I have a good idea of how global forces that impact the environment, so I could work for an environmental organization.

Have you been involved in any volunteer projects?
Yes. I worked on this project for the Green Belt Movement which helps reforestation in Kenya while also empowering women in their community. It was really awesome. I learned so much from that experience. I’ve always been interested in the environment — my family has a long history of being protestors and being activists — so that was always kind of a driving force in me.

Have any classes outside of your major stood out?
I took a music class that was really interesting. We studied different musical systems, vocations, tunings, styles of play, and instrumentation. We were studying Gamelan ensembles in Indonesia. I saw it through the eyes of my Women’s and Gender Studies major. So when I was learning about music in Bali, I was still thinking about gender constructions and and the effects of this musical culture on the population and how it is disappearing because of westernization. I’m always thinking about my major.

Has any class changed your perspective or views?
I don’t think they’ve changed my view, but they’ve definitely informed me. Now, I can back up and justify my view and be more informed because of what I’ve learned.

Do you feel Farmington is preparing you well?
Definitely. I’m going to be doing an internship that it will be will involve the environment and women.

How is the workload? Are the professors too easy or too hard?
No, my professors aren’t too hard on me. I feel like all the professors want the students to succeed, and they make them succeed. Professors here are always pushing to get me to learn, whether I'm taking an English class with advanced English majors or a geography class with a bunch of smart geography majors.

Have any professors stood out?
Well, I look at all my professors, and they all seem really amazing to me, but my advisor Alice Adams [Assoc. Professor Women's and Gender Studies] is my mentor, and she is pretty much the smartest person ever. She’s the one faculty member that will remain in my mind forever. Since I am almost graduating and trying to figure out what I will do in the real world, Alice is very helpful because she has been there in the real world. She helps me go in a steady direction and get things accomplished. She is my beacon of academic hope.

What makes someone a good professor?
Well, Alice Adams really just brings in information and knowledge that you wouldn’t find in anywhere else. She makes people analyze and gets them to figure it out for themselves. Information isn’t just handed to us on a plate — it’s something that we all have to understand in context.

Is there anything you would have liked to have known before you came to Farmington?
I would’ve liked to have come here sooner. I don’t think there have been any big surprises. Any surprises have been good surprises.

What does a liberal arts education mean to you?
You are getting a well-rounded education where you're free to learn whatever you want to learn.

What were some of your first impressions of Farmington?
My first impressions weren’t academic because I came here to visit my friend. But I found the students here seemed welcoming and intelligent. They seemed like they wanted to be there, wanted to learn. They also seemed like they were willing and ready to help each other in order to do that.

Are you still getting that vibe?
Yes, I would say my first impressions were pretty accurate. Everyone seems like they care about whatever they are studying. They’re really interested in learning. They're not here to just graduate and get out. They’re here because they want to grow and do something with what they're learning.

Do you participate in any clubs or organizations?
I’m secretary for Voices of Women on Campus (VOX). It’s a student-run club that addresses the issues of sex and gender on campus. We are trying to organize a “sex fair,” that will provide information about healthy sexuality. Hopefully, it will offer lots of different standpoints and ideas about personal safety, healthy sex and sexuality.

Do you get to travel with your club?
I went to Massachusetts with Voices of Women on Campus for a conference on reproductive technologies and reproductive rights. We’re going to another conference a couple of weeks in Rockland, Maine. It’ll be about LGBTQ sexuality and issues. That should be interesting.

Do you ever participate in events around campus?
I go to a lot of musical events and performances. I went to the Vagina Monologues performance last year which was put on by the Women’s and Gender Studies program and it was pretty sweet. We do that every year. There are always little things going on and they are usually interesting, and sometimes they have free food. I pretty much go anywhere where there is free food. [laughs]

What else do you do for fun in Farmington?
Sometimes I go to the movies at Narrow Gauge Cinema — it's inexpensive and just a quick walk from my apartment just downtown. Sometimes I hang out, play Monopoly with my friends because we are wicked cool [laughs]. You can always find fun stuff to do on your own.

Do you have a work-study job?
Yeah, I work at the Women’s and Gender Studies office. I to light secretarial work and things like that. It’s not very glamorous, but it pays well, so that's nice.

What is your favorite part of being at Farmington?
I would say my favorite thing is the Women’s and Gender Studies program. It’s pretty much what drives me — the classes I'm taking and the work I do there.

What are your plans after graduation?
I’m really hoping that my internship will help me decide. I’m also considering joining the Peace Corps.

What sage advice would you give to an incoming freshman?
I would say that you should pay attention in your classes because you really do learn that way.

Would you recommend Farmington to a brother or sister or friend?
Yes, I would recommend it to anyone that wants to learn.