A few months ago, there was an article being shared by many of my classmates and peers that described UMass Dartmouth as the ugliest school in America. At first, I had the same reaction as many of my fellow corsairs; it was funny because let's be honest, we've all thought it before, whether as high school students or walking around as first-year students. From the look of the campus on the outside I almost didn't come to tour UMass Dartmouth when I was touring colleges the summer before my senior year because all of my friends described it as looking like "a jail". The reason why I went on a tour in August 2013 was because my mom convinced me to give it a chance and not to judge a book by its cover, and I'm so glad she did.
I had just made it to the Science and Engineering building on my tour when I could see myself walking through those halls as a student. As a marine biology student most of my college career would be in that building and even as a rising high school senior I knew that. I remember being on the third floor, walking past what would be my first-year biology laboratory classroom that I really saw myself as a student there, and that's where I started really seeing the school for what it truly was instead of just looking at the appearance that so many had told me about.
Clearly I ended up going to school at UMass Dartmouth and to this day it has been one of the best decisions of my life. It was because of that tour, walking down the third floor of the science and engineering building, hearing the head of the biology department tell me I could accomplish my dreams and that it was possible to do so, and all the other times I revisited UMD that I realized that was the perfect school for me. It was close to home but far enough away to feel like a new adventure and had everything I was looking for. It was time to "embrace the concrete", and I sent in my deposit immediately after making my decision to go to that where I could see myself being happy and accomplishing all I set out to do. No longer did it look like a "prison"; it was the place where I was going to make all my dreams come true over the next four years.
We are all taught from a young age that it's what's inside that matters, that beauty can fade but personality is forever, and I think that's why I shortly became very upset with that article describing my university as the ugliest school in America. You can't see the life of our school from the outside looking at the concrete buildings. You can't see the smiles on students' faces as they finally understand a concept that has been plaguing them for days thanks to hours of hard work and dedication. You can't see the groups of students studying in the library for exams, holding meetings for clubs and groups, or feel the buzz of excitement the day before long weekends and breaks. You can't see the community of students on our campus coming together behind movements, losses, victories, and so many other things that happen across campus.
You can't see everything that makes this campus beautiful by only looking on the outside. The true beauty is found within.
Once you're a student, you start to see our school for the pieces that make up the whole, so seeing articles like this can be funny at first but then can feel a little wrong. Each building is like a sculpture, crafted and built specifically to Paul Rudolph's liking to give it the brutalist look that he wanted. He even designed the stairs that run through the campus to make people slow down and look around at everything around them, to really see his work and designs that are what people know as the UMass Dartmouth Campus. So many of my friends have said they have grown to appreciate the architecture of our buildings after joining the corsair community because it's ours, and that's part of why I love my school so much. No other school has what we have, from our architecture to our students and staff to the community I've grown to love so much. Yeah, there's a lot of concrete, but nobody else can make fun of that concrete like we do and nobody else does make fun of it as much as we do. The campus may look tough from the outside, but it holds the wonderful community I have grown to love over my years here and I can't see myself anywhere else.
