At Commencement, Jenny Schollaert spoke about the sense of community at Chatham: a support network that is unwaveringly kind and beautifully genuine. That camaraderie is shockingly rare; it’s been a privilege to encounter and celebrate it every day for four years.
Her Campus Chatham launched on November 1, 2011. Since then, we’ve published 179 Features, written 162 Blog posts and conducted over 200 interviews. Those numbers highlight the extraordinary dedication of the HC Chatham team. Writers dove into the topics that mattered most to them, from feminism to environmentalism. Photographers documented our stunning campus through every season. Team members pinned posters to bulletin boards, handed out candy during Spirit Days and sustained the conversation on social media. Our team spanned multiple class years and many majors. They shared passions and hidden talents. By 2015, we’d worked our way up to the highest possible Her Campus Chapter Level designation: Pink. As a tiny team on a small campus, every member was instrumental in that achievement.
Along the way, we received an unbelievable level of support from faculty and staff. Former Assistant Director of Student Affairs and Residence Life, Stephanie Reynolds, walked us through the paperwork to become a registered organization. In 2012, Dr. Lenz introduced us to Dr. Cruger, a new Communications professor who would become our Faculty Advisor. Her ideas, advice and commitment to the Her Campus mission shaped and sustained our team; we would not be where we are today without her. Partnerships with the Business & Entrepreneurship Department, the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship, the Office of Alumni Relations, the Office of University Communications and the Pennsylvania Center for Women & Politics helped us reach new audiences while supporting our university. Thank you to Cori Begg, Dr. Brown, Bill Campbell, Dr. Chung, Dana DePasquale, Annie Guadagnino, Rebecca Harris, Anne Flynn Schlicht and Brett Smith for making those collaborations possible. Thank you, also, to Dr. Barazzone for always making us feel welcome on campus. We never anticipated the level of support we’d receive, and every act of generosity meant a great deal and propelled us forward.
Publishing anything online presents an unsettling level of vulnerability; we could not be more thankful to each and every one of you, our readers, for inviting us into your Chatham experience. Your respect and hospitality created a safe space for women’s voices online. We did not take one moment of your attention or kindness for granted.
This August, Indigo Baloch will take on the role of Campus Correspondent. She is a talented writer and editor prepared to help HC Chatham evolve in tandem with our university; I hope you’ll continue to offer your ideas and imagination to support her in that effort. We are thrilled to welcome her to the Her Campus family.
As HC Chatham enters a new chapter, I look back with gratitude at the privilege we had to chronicle the last four years of Chatham College for Women. We loved hearing from prospective students and alumni, answering questions and shaping an online community that–we hope–captured the spirit of our university.
It’s been an extraordinary honor to serve you as Campus Correspondent. Thank you for consistently reaffirming the magic of our Chatham sisterhood. I am deeply grateful to every team member, faculty and staff member, and reader who made HC Chatham possible. I couldn’t be more grateful for what we built together.