I think, therefore I am, right?
When I was a college student, I majored in communication arts and political science. As part of the Jesuit school coursework, we had to take a philosophy course.
I vaguely remember feeling super-smart as I sat around with a group of friends in the dining hall on steak-and-potato night debating whether or not we exist, based on what we had studied in class that day. However, there was sour cream involved that evening; consequently, I was a bit distracted and don’t remember much else.
So I have deep admiration for those who major in philosophy and take on all of the challenging thought-provoking work that changes the lens through which we view life. Now I can see how majoring in the subject prepares you for just about anything in life, because that’s what our alums tell us and show us in the cover story of this issue.
Our writer, Becca Manning, did such an amazing job writing about their success that we wanted to do something extra-special to illustrate the story—something crazy and creative. So we lined up some ancient Greek philosopher statues for a photo shoot and put some modern technology in their hands to represent the types of careers our philosophy majors are landing in.
The statues come courtesy of performers from Ten31 Productions out of Pawtucket, R.I. You would be amazed at the process they go through to transform themselves into living art statues. We were lucky enough to be behind the scenes and thought you would like a peek, too. (Go online to see a gallery of the many images we took that day at wheatoncollege.edu/wheaton-magazine.)
And some of you from the Class of 2002 might recognize someone: Alison “Ali” LeBrun ’02. We had no idea that she works for Ten31 until we were standing in front of the library and I tried to give her parking directions to the Haas Athletic Center parking lot and she said, “I know where it is; I was a student here a long time ago.”
LeBrun, who majored in English literature and studio art, is a performance artist and producer for Ten31. She also has her own business as a personal energy coach, supporting people in rediscovering their passion and joy in life.
She had not been back to campus since her 10-year Reunion in 2012. But, she said, “when I saw this job was at Wheaton, I asked if I could be on the team for the day. It was a fun morning.”
Yes, Alison, it sure was.
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