Support, Affirm, Lift, Transform with Scarf #3

My day wearing the scarf began like most other days. I got up around 7:45, read for a few minutes, caught up on emails and Twitter then started getting ready for work. However, as I laid out my clothes I faced a small issue. What matches with this green, fuchsia, blue and gold scarf. After three other shirts, I settled on a purple jewel tone shirt that went perfectly with the scarf.

Throughout the day, I thought about what to write about. I hoped something would come to me, something would happen. It was Valentine’s Day after all so something worthy of this space should have occurred. However, in thinking back on the day, in reflecting on where my mind was, I kept coming back to community.

In my time at UD, I’ve found community to be the intersection between the natural college community that forms at most small- and mid-sized colleges and the Marianist values that put meaning and purpose behind that community. After 3 years at UD, I’m always surprised at how much more I come to understand community here. And how much it affects the rest of my life.

In the past couple weeks, amongst the Student Affairs colleagues I connect to on Twitter, there’s been a movement starting. In December, a group of women attending the Women’s Leadership Institute sponsored by ACUI got together to meet colleagues face to face that they only knew virtually. The result, an alliance was formed and WLSalt was created. The women decided that there was a great need to support, affirm, lift and transform women in higher education. The WLSalt community is a growing group of men and women committed to helping women to achieve their best in higher education.

So what does WLSalt have to do with the Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf? In short, everything. As women, we sometimes put ourselves down, get lost in our own worlds, and never realize how much we need each other. We sometimes forget how much we just need someone to tell us that we’re okay and we’re good at what we do. This project has the ability to support, affirm, lift and transform women on this campus. As the first wearer of scarf #3, I hope this happens.