Oberlin Stories Project
We have collected hundreds of personal narratives from students, alumni, faculty, and staff that explain the merits and strengths of Oberlin through the eyes of those who have experienced it firsthand.
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![Susan in the 1970s.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/susan_troy_76.jpg?itok=q9k_hHNH)
On opportunity
“I showed up at a meeting with a vague notion that I might want to work as an intern on Capitol Hill. What I hadn’t expected was that a professor I barely knew, Paul Dawson, would place me with an up...
Susan Troy ’76
![Nicky and another runner share a laugh.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/nicky_ouellet_09.jpg?itok=doAqeAli)
On running and surviving senior year
“I outlined my thesis on thirteen-mile long runs. I wrote my application essays on bus rides to races. My experiences as a student-athlete influenced my proposal to study high-school athletics during...
Nicky Ouellet ’09
![A small bird is perched on Joshua's finger](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/joshua_morse_12.jpg?itok=s7MUO769)
On changing intellectual pursuits
“Oberlin [gave] me the chance to see that I could find that same level of fulfillment and meaning in any field that struck my fancy.”
Joshua Morse ’12
![Three people doing tai chi in the woods](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/corey_patrick_harkins_12.jpg?itok=eFe2f2rY)
On creating the Ecology Meditation Mindfulness ExCo
“Each week we intertwined meditation and mindfulness activities into our learning ... we always left with mud on our jeans and smiles on our faces.”
Corey Patrick Harkins ’12
![Wearing an apron, Weelic holds up a bottle of siracha and a whisk.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/weelic_chong_15.jpg?itok=VMOvlIR6)
On OSCA tofu making
“I learned what tofu meant to me: steeped in tradition and innovation, tofu is where the new and old come full circle, a circle spanning generations, a circle catalyzed in Harkness’ kitchen.”
Weelic Chong ’15
![Peter with his son as a toddler.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/peter_rathjens_81.jpg?itok=_5qXo_-o)
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...
Peter Rathjens ’81
![Juliette stands atop a high cliff, with mountains and sky behind her](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/juliette_lu_12.jpg?itok=blXie8Zf)
On interning at a hedge fund
“I had preconceived ideas of finance as a lofty, entirely mathematical, robotically exact, and overall boring kind of field. In no way, shape, or form would I have predicted that I would end up where...
Juliette Lu ’12
![Two football players in the 1980s wearing numbers 64 and 67](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/dore_kiesselbach_88.jpg?itok=CqcxYpgy)
On his poem about football at Oberlin
“The moment of revelatory tenderness I try to capture in this poem, exposed as it was by this rough game, meant as much to me as anything else I experienced as a student and remains very poignant to...
Dore Kiesselbach ’88
![Steel drum band performing outdoors](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/alicia_dudziak_13.jpg?itok=qVouuFu8)
On joining OSteel
“I loved that I began to feel like a good musician even though my musical experience had been limited since age 10, when I quit piano.”
Alicia Dudziak ’13
![A group poses at a city bridge.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/yvette_chen_16.jpg?itok=wIyRtlLa)
On preparation
“Three years into college, I can say with confidence that my experiences inside and outside of the classroom have equipped me with the skills to fight for what I believe in.”
Yvette Chen ’16
![Rachel looks at a garden of tall, yellow flowers.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/rachel_parnell_16.jpg?itok=scMg_GHm)
On an unforgettable moment
“Although Kim Katrin Milan did not teach me the politics of radical love, I cannot help but acknowledge that she illuminated what was already so present in my life and the work that I wish to do. ”
Rachel Parnell ’16
![Leanne with her daughter](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/leanne_wagner_76.jpg?itok=MKnd9j3H)
On progress toward gender equality
“Watching my daughter ... study with many more than one woman professor in the sciences, and not be constrained in her choices of what was to come after Oberlin, I realize that the Oberlin tradition...
Leanne Wagner ’76