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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![Alumni lacrosse team photo](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/hank_willems_76.jpg?itok=iINCKCoY)
On road trips with lacrosse teammates
“As we were passing the Firestone tire factory, I remarked, “All I can smell is burning rubber.” A minute later a car passed, the driver gesturing frantically. Glancing around, we realized that our...
Hank Willems ’76
![Sam Skove](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/sam_skove_12.jpg?itok=inNYI8yg)
On being a member of the Sunshine Scouts
“I felt I was part of a kinetic community, rather than a hermetically sealed club. They did improv because they liked using their imaginations.”
Sam Skove ’12
![Dressed in a suit, Ashwin pets a dog](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/ashwin_kambhampati_14.jpg?itok=xKXnL_n_)
On answering the “What’s your major?” question
“I am an economics and mathematics major. I feel, though, that I am an Oberlin major; the liberal arts approach helping me discover the subjectivities involved with looking at the world though...
Ashwin Kambhampati ’14
![Choir performance.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/martha_cargo_06.jpg?itok=mt6wM795)
On singing with Collegium Musicum
“Monday and Wednesday afternoons, beginning promptly at 4:30 in Fairchild Chapel, were brief windows of respite from our otherwise whirlwind college lives.”
Martha Cargo ’07
![A mangled jeep and other debris by a beach.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/martha_tenney_83.jpg?itok=0CQYsQLX)
On the lasting effects of her time at Oberlin
“Years later I have a career in public health and the things I love are the things I loved that helped create the squiggly route to NOW. ”
Martha J. Tenney ’83
![People gather around an information table at an outdoor event](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/jake_holtzman_16.jpg?itok=NSELCky8)
On exploration
“Although we are all at Oberlin to go to school first and foremost, I don’t see an Oberlin education as complete without at least exploring the other opportunities that are so readily at our...
Jake Holtzman ’16
![A group of people having a meal together.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/sien_rivera_13.jpg?itok=X31tf3_i)
On the Multicultural Resource Center
“The MRC serves as my springboard; as a timid first-year, it gave me the strength to go out into the frightening unfamiliarity of campus and thrive, because I knew I had a home to go back to.”
Sien Rivera ’13
![Two people sitting on the floor](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/caitlin_oneill_11.jpg?itok=7xPU7YMI)
On study abroad
“Even though there were days when I missed my family and friends so much that it hurt, days when I thought that another rainy day would drive me up the wall, I would not trade my experience for the...
Caitlin O'Neill ’11
![Michael, with city lights and a blurred taxi in the background.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/michael_vito_04.jpg?itok=DXCUTaRu)
On skills learned in the Conservatory
“In [performance], we must take all of the experience and ability we have attained through our own development and integrate it with that of others... an exercise in fluid, nonhierarchical leadership...
Michael Vito ’04
![Jonah plays alto sax at the Cat in the Cream coffeehouse](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/jonah_berman_03.jpg?itok=k7P1Il5-)
On finding his place at Oberlin
“For me, the goal in truth was not to become the best saxophone player there ever was. It was to experience the incredible wealth of opportunities that Oberlin had to offer.”
Jonah Berman ’03
![Sze Foong](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/sze_foong_99.jpg?itok=uRYiG1go)
On studying in London with David Walker
“Threading it all together were the conversations gently led by David about and around these plays, supplemented by talk of poems, novels, museum visits, and films, and from these emerged the...
Sze Foong ’99
![Cindy shows a research poster](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story_350/public/content/story/image/cindy_camacho_11.jpg?itok=ogBle57X)
On becoming a scholar activist
“With the help of my wonderful mentor, Daphne John, associate professor of sociology, I am able to use the academic tools that I have gained at Oberlin to fight the battles of injustice.”
Cindy Camacho ’11