WE BUILD and rebuild ourselves. Our experiences reshape us. And this physical place — the hills, lawns, and woods of Swarthmore — changes as well. The seasons do their natural, formidable bit. Storms accelerate unintended shifts. (I suppose this applies to our lives, too.)
Then there is strategic metamorphosis. The campus is undergoing much of that. Evidence of all the people and planning this requires is its own masterpiece. Fences and scaffolding show safety is prioritized. The whining metallic music of drills means progress is happening. Views blocked and paths redirected are proof a great plan is underway. Disruption, yes. But how marvelous this collaboration of people in fields such as engineering, construction, and environmental science who are all part of a community striving to improve its partnership with the planet.
With geothermal wellfield drilling complete on Mertz Lawn, plans for a more sustainable campus advance. Our celebration of that upheaval helps carry it through.
Moving through change underpins much of what we share in this fall issue. You don’t have to have piloted a P-47 Thunderbolt in World War II fighting the Nazis. You don’t have to have started a gospel radio show at WSRN, directed a theater program for actors with autism, or written an award-winning book while riding the train to work.
Whether you’re a newly minted alum, or mid career, between jobs or beyond them, you can find yourself in these pages. You’ll discover a message here from Swarthmoreans like Morton Huber, a member of the Navy’s V-12 program, who tells us to do “something you love,” or Betty Glenn Webber ’43, who says, “I’d like to be remembered as someone who was willing to see the good in most people.”
You are an elemental part of the fabric of Swarthmore, with all its loud and daring changes.
Kate Campbell
Editor
