Sorry John, we’re going to have to go with Ben on this one. Mr. Franklin once said, “energy and persistence conquer all things” and many of F&M’s students are living proof of the wise quip.
This week we are lucky enough to have two featured campus celebrities, Lilah Thompson and Beth Gladstone. If the names of these two dynamite F&M ladies don’t immediately ring a bell then their faces likely do as each is involved in a large variety of activities around campus. If you are still at a loss, then let me introduce you to two of the college’s biggest and best personalities.
Senior Lilah Thompson’s list of accolades and activities is overwhelming to say the least; President of both .08 and Poor Richards, member of the Common Hour Committee and the Committee for Student Conduct, and a Human Rights Intern at the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement, she is a force to be reckoned with.
Recently, it has been Lilah’s work with .08 and with The Human Rights Initiative (THRI), a new student organization, that has come into the spotlight. Each has had significant events around campus, the Dodgeball Tournament and Human Rights Week respectively, that have garnered the groups a lot of attention.
Lilah’s efforts with Human Rights Week have brought a new awareness to F&M’s campus regarding Human Rights issues throughout the world, and specifically, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Whether it was at one of the Week’s lectures, films, or discussions, or even on the sideline of the kick-off 5k run, Lilah was there to help encourage the spread of knowledge. The reason for this is her determination and strong belief in the power of young individuals. Lilah affirms, “Often times we underestimate the power of our generation, as student youth, to make change. Through becoming aware, we recognize that even if we change one life, we have done something; it is never about who does what, but what gets done for others.”
Although directed at Human Rights Week in particular, this quote is very telling of all of Lilah’s work and it is this outlook that has allowed her to make such a difference around campus. It may not be about “who does what,” but in the end, Lilah is usually the one doing it.
In a figurative passing of the torch, this semester Lilah turned over her President position in .08 to Junior BOS major, Beth Gladstone. Beth’s other involvements include Peer Health Educator for the Office of Health and Wellness, member of the Student Health Advisory Committee, and founding brother of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity.
After an exciting semester abroad in London, Beth returned to campus in January looking to bring a new energy in to .08. A month and a half in to the semester, and she has already spearheaded one of the most successful events of the year, the Dodgeball Tournament. At eight o’clock on a Friday night, 250 students made their way to the ASFC to engage in some friendly games of dodgeball and take part in one of the largest non-alcoholic events on campus. I’m no mathematician, but at a school with only 2,164 students, that’s a whole lot of people to be playing dodgeball on a Friday night.
Beth’s work has enabled .08’s message of safe drinking and alcohol education to reach such a large number of people that even she is still grappling with the group’s success. Hardly able to contain her excitement, she tells me, “Having been there from the start of .08 two years ago, it is hard to believe how far we have come in so little time. Something that started as a group of three of us is now 55. We have gained a strong momentum from events like dodgeball and the success of our talks with the freshmen, one that I don’t see ending anytime soon.”
To reiterate just how prominent both of these women are, they are two-thirds of those three founding .08 members Beth mentioned. They, along with graduated senior Molly Austin, created one of the most popular and highly regarded student organizations at F&M today.
The achievements of the Dodgeball Tournament and Human Rights Week are markers of the extreme efforts made by Lilah and Beth, who are very much so two of the school’s leading movers and shakers. Both their joint work with .08 and their other individual activities have made Lilah Thompson and Beth Gladstone household, or more appropriately, dorm room, names.