Washington and Lee University

In my four years at Washington and Lee, I've found that this school offers its students many incredible, unique opportunities to succeed in any field of interest. When I chose to come to W&L almost four years ago, I had a lot of diverse interests that I knew could only be satiated by an institution where liberal arts education is a top priority. I came to college with a passionate love of both visual arts and biological sciences--two seemingly separate areas I simply couldn't live without. I concentrated my classes in both of these subjects, majoring in both studio art and biology. I eventually set my sights on medical school, still pursuing my art courses but not considering how they might overlap with biology.

That feeling of separateness began to break down with a class I took fall term of junior year. Ecology and Conservation Biology with Dr. Hurd introduced me to a relatively new field in biology with growing relevance in politics, media, literature and the arts, and planted the seeds for an idea that would eventually emerge as my honors thesis. I learned about how biologists address these issues, but I wanted to find out more about how artists today internalize these themes of growing urgency and express their feelings about the natural world. I became fascinated with the genre of Ecoart--artists using diverse and novel media to comment on or raise awareness about the environment. Not only was this area of art extremely relevant to my courses in biology, it represented the exciting contemporary work developed by today's artists. But I wasn't satisfied with just researching Ecoart. I wanted to make it.

I began to draft my ideas into a concept for a sculptural installation. My studio art advisor encouraged me to apply for a Student Summer Independent Research (SSIR) grant, developed by the University to encourage student research in the liberal arts. I outlined how I would use the summer before my senior year to do research for my thesis--visiting art museums, going to zoos and nature preserves, and sketching. When I came back to campus in the fall, I would have all of the intellectual material I needed to begin building my sculptural pieces.

The SSIR grant not only gave me fiscal support for my research endeavors, it helped me to produce more mature ideas about the themes I wanted to address with my pieces. While I still had a lot of thinking and working to do, I was miles ahead of where I might have been without a summer’s worth of research. Even now, I am constantly improving and honing my project thanks to exciting feedback from art professors, my fellow students and my biology professors.

The resources here at W&L enabled me to build an intellectual bridge between Wilson Hall and the Science Center, combining my love for art and science in my research for my honors thesis. Dedicated faculty, support programs, and a highly-involved student population all contributed to the project that marks the culmination of my undergraduate study. I am really excited to see how my project evolves to my thesis exhibition. My experience at W&L has shown me that this is an institution that believes in its students, doing everything possible to help them succeed.