Testimonials

Carolyn Snell '06

"I get frustrated when I feel like I'm doing something only because others want me to do it, not because I want to do it myself," says Carolyn Snell. "And I couldn't see myself having to be boxed into one major. Other schools seem too much like high school for big kids; some of my friends at other schools are still caring only about whether it's going to be on the test. I'd rather care about what I want to care about. I can't picture myself any other place than COA."

Raised on a farm in Buxton, Maine, Carolyn first thought was to go big with college. She was looking at a big school in a big city, and was still debating whether her focus would be on science or the arts when she happened to visit a friend at College of the Atlantic. Then she realized that at COA she wouldn't have to choose between her interests. Carolyn has studied science, but she has been focused on literature, writing and art and has been on the editorial board of The Insider, COA's newspaper for three years.

Her recent trip to Paraguay, where the soil color is not brown, as it is on her family's farm, but a true red, intensified her fascination with art. Carolyn became deeply intrigued by the aesthetics of place: What does it mean when the very color of the earth is red? Her senior project will combine art with words, integrating her curiosity about the meaning of color into painting, text and theory.

When asked to consider what she has gotten out of her time here at COA, Carolyn speaks about how she has eased off on making sweeping assumptions. She's come to see that learning is constant, and always up to her. "Being at COA is not about being a student to be filled with knowledge by a professor. It's more about my seeking knowledge. I'll find it where I can, from other students, my own discoveries and thoughts and experiences that happen here. I also learn from professors, but learning doesn't always take place in the classroom."

Ultimately, Carolyn is not sure what she'll do in life. Teaching, art and writing intrigue her, as does her own family farm. "I've come to realize that there's not much that is more important than growing food. Besides, I have a major love affair with the colors, flavors, textures and process of raising tomatoes."