Last Friday, the Wabash Women’s Collective (WWC) hosted a speaking panel to introduce their career experience to the College. The committee was comprised of seven women involved in the Collective: Jane Castianias, Nicole Chase, Stephanie Dellinger, Sarah Estell, Jessi Farris, Holli Harrington and Karen Reetz. Their expertise ranges from law to health to non-profit work. An impressive array of successful women, they are a part of the collective that helps bridge gaps that staff at Wabash College may overlook between the many facets they need to balance.
“It’s a constant battle, because I know that President Feller and the senior staff work really hard to make sure that Wabash academically is cutting edge,” said Assistant Director of Engagement Deanna Duncan. “Sometimes that means we have old ghost carpet, so the Wabash Women’s Collective and groups like them try to step in and sort of make up that difference with things that may be helpful.”
The WWC has substantially impacted the student body since its inception; in just three years they have raised and funded over $300,000 towards various projects at the College.
“They have had quite the impact on campus,” said Duncan. “As we saw in President Fellers’s endowment talk, the College really is not in a position to be focused on questions like, ‘how can we make spaces better?’ and ‘what are the ways in which we need to pioneer?’ They are currently focused on keeping the College running while they build the endowment, so the Women’s Collective has been crucial in improving various aspects of the college.”
Beyond improving infrastructure, the Collective was formed for women who want some greater way to be connected to the College that changed the lives of their family members.
“The Wabash Women’s Collective is made up of women who have some kind of a connection to Wabash in one way or another,” said Director of Student Health Center and College Nurse Practitioner Chris Amidon. “Some of them are moms. Some of them are wives. We have a couple of daughters, and even a sister. They all have some kind of affinity already built in for Wabash, and the reason they came together is because they wanted to find a way to support Wabash students independently of the way that they’re connected to Wabash through the men in their lives.”
In their short span, the WWC has managed to make a tangible difference at Wabash, bolstering the well-being of Wabash men. One key way they have helped is by fashioning the student counseling center into a safer space.
“They gave the Student Counseling Center kind of a facelift,” said Duncan. “It was yucky, old gross carpet and ratty furniture. Jamie Douglas H’14, who was the director at the time, said that the counseling center is this place where young men come when they need some mental health help, and coming into a gross, drab and depressing space is probably not ideal. So the Women’s Collective made a $30,000 grant so that they could refurnish, redecorate and make it a bright, welcoming and encouraging space”
The gesture not only benefited student patients; the staff was grateful for the much-needed change.
“The Women’s Collective played an important role in our move to Kendall House,” said Director of Counseling Center Keri Frances. “The Counseling Center has been in a few different locations over the years, and now we feel settled in a space to do our work. The home-like environment is welcoming and comfortable, which can make it a little easier for students when they walk through the door…We are extremely grateful to the Wabash Women’s Collective for helping to provide a space we can enjoy.”
The Collective also played an integral role in implementing changes at the Student Health Center. There was a recurring problem where the health center would send students to a more equipped doctor’s office, but students without cars could not get transportation. The Collective responded by writing a grant to help aid those students. The general environment was also worn from years of use; however, the Collective recently aided the health center in ways beyond what was asked.
“Last spring, I asked [the Wabash Women’s Collective] for about $2,000 for our couch and furniture in the waiting room because they were really shabby and stained,” said Amidon. “And they said, ‘well, here’s $20,000, and do it right.’ So, we repainted everything and got new furniture and carpet and some medical equipment that we really needed. Everything in there was 25 years old because this was built with the Allen Center. It was worn out, and so the donation was really nice.”
The Wabash Women’s Collective is a blessing to the campus. They have also aided students by purchasing expensive Chinese textbooks and funding study materials for the MCAT for pre-med students.
“Everything they do with regards to their grants asks, ‘how will this help students?’” said Duncan. “‘How will it make the Wabash student have a better experience?’ And how will it advance him towards success? They are all about the students.”