Westmont College

When I decided to come to Westmont, I had an idea of what I was in for. Based on my visit and the conversations I had with my Admission counselor, I knew that Westmont was not an especially diverse place. I expected to be the only Black girl in my section, I even went as far as to think I would not have any Black friends. I was mentally preparing myself all summer for what I expected to happen. For the first time in my life I would be in an environment that was predominantly white. This was a bit of a shocker for me since I was raised in a neighborhood that was predominantly black and Hispanic, but between my mom's five sisters and my nine little cousins, we have almost every continent represented. So, understandably, most of my family did not understand my decision to go to a school that is not known for diversity. It didn't help that since I was a little girl each member of my family decided that I was going to go to a Historically Black college or University.

The day I moved in to Clark H, I was going through the worst culture shock I had ever been through in my entire life. Almost all of my suite mates were middle class suburbanites who graduated from Christian schools and I thought we would have nothing in common. During the first welcoming event, I sat back and counted in my head the number of people who were from a different background. I was shocked that there were so few. I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

Looking back on that day, I think of myself as slightly ridiculous. As the semester moved on, I made friends with people who are diverse in their own way. I realized that if I would have gone to a place where everyone looked like me, talked like me and came from the same socioeconomic background as me I would have gone crazy. During my first semester at Westmont I became connected with the cultural organizations, the Black Student Union, Asian Student Association, and many others. I also started going to meetings for the Racial Equality and Justice group, a student organization that focuses on learning the history of the Civil Rights Movement and learning to identify the justice issues our generation faces and how we can be part of the solution and not the problem.

I am now known around campus for being very involved with our Intercultural Programs Office, which is something I never would have predicted as a big part of my college experience. I think because I am in an environment where I am sometimes the sole representation of my cultural background, I have found a new curiosity of learning my history, learning why I had a hard time calling adults by their first name and not add a Mr. or Miss in front of it.

Westmont is not the most diverse campus. I have encountered students who have never met someone from my background. I do not take on the mentality that I have to be the best at all times because I have to represent my culture. Instead I tell people that my opinion is not the opinion of every Black person in the United States. I try to have the mind frame of an educator when I encounter students who have never had a cross-cultural encounter. I see myself as teaching them something new, not only about my culture but about how to ask culture related questions without being offensive. Through my experiences at Westmont I have learned one of the most important lessons of my life: change can only occur through relationships. If you encounter someone who has never had a friend who is from a different background than them, you shouldn't refuse to be their friend because they "don't understand" how can they ever learn if they don't have someone they trust to teach them.

- Stef

I was born and raised in Inglewood, CA. Inglewood is a town known for gang violence, police brutality and above all being the first town to kick out Walmart (something we are very proud of). I lived on one of the biggest streets, Crenshaw blvd a six lane street, right across from a fire station. To add to the noise of my daily life Inglewood is approximately five minutes from LAX, probably the busiest airport in California. All that to say, I grew up in a place that was noisy twenty-four seven, and only quieted down between midnight and 4am. Stores and food places are typically open until midnight or later, with several 24 hour favs. You locked all four of your front door locks every time you go through the door. Kids couldn't just play in the street they had to go to a park...Inglewood is a crazy place to grow up but its my home and I love it.

When I was researching colleges, I didn't really know what location I was looking for. Yes, I grew up in an urban environment but I also spent part of my summers with my grandparents in a central Californian suburb where Walmart was the highlight of the town. I was leaning towards colleges that were surburban but had the convenience of being close to the city. Kind of like Westwood, where UCLA is located, it is not technically in the city, but you get all of the benefits of the city. This was just one of the many factors that ultimately led me to pick Westmont as my college.

So I am pretty sure you are wondering how I ended up at Westmont which is located in an affluent suburb and an hour away from the nearest Target. As I said before I had a long list of things I wanted in my ideal college. I wanted a place that was not only a Christian institution by history, but integrated its faith in everything, from science to sports. That cut out all the public schools and most of the privates. I wanted a small student body, so that cut out all the big universities. I wanted a place that had an excellent science program that gave students different opportunities. That made Westmont the top school on my list, and when I came to visit for a preview day, I fell in love with the campus.

When I was preparing to come to Westmont I had no idea what to expect. Remember, my suburban experience was a few weeks out of the summer in a small central coast town where I spent most of my time running after little cousins and playing with the dog, with the occasional trip to Walmart of course. So during move-in it was the hottest day of the year and I lived on the bottom floor of Clark H. Neither me nor my roommate thought to bring fans and we couldn't just hop in the car and drive around the corner to Target or Walmart to get one. Now don't get me wrong, there are places to buy fans and things like that in Santa Barbara but they weren't right around the corner. The first night I could not sleep because of the dead silence. I tossed and turned and just could not sleep without the noise of airplanes and cars and the occasional fire engine. The next day I realized that I had forgotten some essential hair things, like shampoo. Being an African American female, I could not just go down the hill and buy some shampoo, instead my mother had to ship a package to me. I was excited about being in this new environment, yet I was not prepared for the culture shock. For the first time, saying things I had said all my life were foreign to most of the people around me. I was seen as an exotic creature because I grew up in the city and went to public schools my entire life. I didn't always like being the different one and sought out friends who had similar backgrounds. Being the person I am, I ended up with a group of friends where no two people were alike.

After making some friends, I began to find ways to enjoy suburbia. I began to listen to my Ipod, to have the comfort of having some noise while I slept. I discovered Target.com and other such sites that allowed me to get the things I felt I needed. We also have great shopping in Santa Barbara and after a while I stopped missing the malls of LA. Now that I have been at Westmont for three years, I have gotten used to the quiet nights. I enjoy looking up at the stars at night and listening to the frogs and crickets. I enjoy going on hikes and bike rides with friends. I also love being able to breathe clean air. It has gotten to the point where the noise keeps me up when I go home.

My transition from a urban resident to a suburban resident started off pretty rocky. But I think that I have made a nice transition. I am still a city girl at heart and am sometimes annoyed when I am craving something at ten at night and nothing is open, but I have come to love this place and I wouldn't trade it in for a college located in the middle of the city.

- Stef

As a senior in high school, I applied to A LOT of schools. I was born in New York and moved to Santa Barbara when I was eight, so I was interested in looking at schools on both sides of the country. Having gone to a private school for most of my life, I knew that I wanted a similar experience for college. I applied to 7 different schools around the country, was accepted to many of them, and finally narrowed it down to two: Gordon College in Massachusetts and Westmont College in Santa Barbara. They are both Christian liberal arts colleges and, from my perspective, are very similar. I had a ridiculously hard time making my decision and waited until the absolute last day to reply. In the end, I chose to go to Gordon because I wanted to have a college experience away from home and I was worried about going to college in my hometown.

I spent two years at Gordon, and during my sophomore year, my family went through a huge crisis and I decided that I would be of better service to my family in Santa Barbara even though I was enjoying myself immensely at Gordon. I decided to transfer to Westmont for my junior year. Even at this point, I was super worried about coming back to Santa Barbara after being on my own in Massachusetts for two years. I was worried that I would go home too often, that my parents would expect me to come home all the time, and that I wouldn't fit in at a college where I thought most people had been friends with each other since their freshman year.

The opposite was the case for all of these concerns. I love Santa Barbara and so it was a very easy transition adjusting from home life to Westmont life. I already had my favorite restaurants and my favorite cool hangout spots and was an expert at getting around town. I found that I really enjoyed sharing my favorite things about Santa Barbara with those who weren't from the area. I also found that I rarely went home. Westmont feels like it is in a different Santa Barbara, a Santa Barbara not anywhere close to the one I had experienced living at home. I would end up going home maybe once every 3 weeks (usually to do laundry) and would maybe meet my family for lunch or dinner here and there. It has been a great experience to spend time with my parents while living at Westmont.
I was also worried about fitting in as a transfer and finding my place at Westmont. Once I stepped onto campus, I instantly felt comfortable and this was integral for me in finding my place. I lived in Emerson Hall which is usually an upperclassmen residence hall but there was a small section of transfers living there last year. This was a perfect housing situation for me because I was able to relate to and interact with other junior transfers, and I was also able to get to know other upperclassmen. Making friends and finding my "group" has always been a difficult thing for me, and I knew that coming to Westmont. But, because of where I was housed and who I was able to interact with, I felt very confident that I would be able to make close friends and fit in at Westmont. The whole community was very open and welcoming towards us as transfers and I definitely appreciated that as I walked through campus and made friends with people in my classes. I also became part of a small bible study group with a few other transfers and that was a great way to grow spiritually and interact on a deeper level with a smaller group of people.

Overall, transitions are hard, but I feel that Westmont and the community did everything possible to make the changes easier. I came in worried about going to school in my hometown and how I would survive as a transfer but found that I fit here better than I hoped. It has been such a blessing for me to come to Westmont. I love it here and am having such a fun time being a Westmont student. I'm not sure I'll be ready to leave when it's time for me to graduate!

- Jackie