A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

As I sit at the front desk of the Office of Undergraduate Admission on my first day of work, I cannot help but smile each time I glance to my left at a tall, narrow frame encasing eleven photographs of eleven William and Mary seniors. We are featured in our favorite spots on campus (I think most of us have multiple favorite spots, even though the nature of the word favorite implies a single spot), each with our own pose and our own blurb underneath of us explaining the significance of our photo. We are all different people, and we all chose different places on campus. Yet we all have the same giddy smile plastered across our faces in this rather epic conglomeration of snapshots. You see, the summer interns in Undergraduate Admission get to have their picture up in the lobby of the office for the next year. We get to be the face of William and Mary to the masses of people that move through the office. So we fancy ourselves pretty awesome. Are we narcissistic? I’d like to think not (although I could see how someone might get that impression when within the first five minutes of the frame hanging up we were all gathered around drooling over our wall, mirroring the giddy smiles in our pictures). I’d like to think (or really, I know) that our excitement in becoming a (now eternalized, thanks to our pictures) part of the office is actually a reflection of our general excitement about William and Mary.

We have the unique opportunity to spend our summer in Williamsburg, not taking classes in hot lecture halls nor assisting the blacksmith in Colonial Williamsburg, but having an impact on the future of William and Mary. We will be giving sweltering tours, packed information sessions, and interviews in our basement office (which we have lovingly termed The Dungeon). We are learning all there is to know about William and Mary, and then we are imparting that knowledge onto whoever will listen to us run our mouths. The eleven of us have trouble answering the question, “Why do you love William and Mary so much?” because we could go on an on with words that ultimately carry us to the conclusion that we feel like we are home. I don’t think that any of us really know what exactly to expect out of this summer, other than guaranteed fun. But I’m pretty sure that throughout, eleven giddy smiles will prevail.