The minute I stepped on Sewanee’s campus, I knew I could see myself happy here for my college experience. What makes Sewanee a great school isn’t just about the rigorous academics or the multiple resume boosters that are offered to us in the form of extracurriculars, but it’s the community of a small school. This feeling of security and of being home is a culmination of the community within the student body and with professors. I don’t know how it happened, but this place felt like magic and drew me in on that November Saturday, and I can’t imagine myself anywhere else.

Let me start off by saying that I didn’t even want to apply to Sewanee. My mom actually forced me to apply, because it was free on the Common App and it was close to home. It’s not that I disliked Sewanee, but more because my senior-in-high-school mind was certain that I needed to be far, far away from Nashville to see the world. Little did I know that the world was well within my reach, and I only had to drive an hour and a half to experience it. As if the close proximity to my hometown weren’t enough to pull me away, the small size of Sewanee also caused me to second-guess whether or not it would be a good fit. Don’t get me wrong, small colleges aren’t for everyone. But it is perfect for me.

When asked what my favorite thing is about going to a small college, my immediate response is an intimate community. I either know a person by name and face, or I know someone who does. We feel things as a whole, both positively and negatively. We may not always agree, but we become stronger intellectually by learning from our differences. If we were a larger school, this closeness and intimacy would be taken out of the experience. This sense of community isn’t just amongst students, but with the outside community as well. My work-study is in the University Child Care Center, where I take care of professors’ and office workers’ children. Even though I’m only part of their lives for a short time, I’m so thankful to be there for those impactful moments of a child’s first steps or first words, and I wouldn’t have that opportunity if I had chosen to attend a large university.

There is so much beauty in knowing that I’m connected to the people and the place that has forever changed my life. It’s so much more than an alumni connection or a student connection, because a small school really becomes your home. Even when I’m home in Nashville, I miss this place so much that I feel like school is home instead. Being a student at a small university has essentially forced me to be more personable and to connect to people I wouldn’t have otherwise, and to be more accountable for friendships. Of course, every college student hopefully feels that their university is home, but being a part of a smaller college setting has shown me how this place unites us as if we were a giant family. I know it’s very clichéd and tour-guide Barbie of me, but small colleges (and for me, Sewanee in particular) are where the self-discovery and growth into a closely-knit community happen. These are a few of the reasons why I love attending a small university.