(photo taken by Sugi Min ’13)
Meet Krista Pickett!
Krista Pickett, class of 2013, is from Chicopee, Massachusetts. She’s pretty much the Williams poster child. Krista was involved in many things on campus, college council being one of them, and was a Junior Advisor her junior year. She majored in Art History and now works in the Admissions Office.
Did you know you would be majoring in Art History before you came to Williams?
Before coming to Williams I thought I would be an English and Spanish major and soon after I thought about Political Science for 5 seconds. Then I took an Art History class as an elective my sophomore year because I had just read The DaVinci Code and I wanted to solve all the mysteries. So then I thought I would double major in Art History and Psychology, I had just taken the introductory psychology course and thought it was fascinating. However, I really didn’t have enough room to double major and still do the liberal arts thing and dabble. So I ended up declaring Psychology as my major because I was further along in the major track. When I was a JA though, my frosh would ask me for recommendations of classes I’ve taken and I recommended the art classes so much that they had all thought I was an Art History major. I realized then that I really should be an Art History major, so I dropped my psych stats class and picked up Art History again. I had to do a lot of backtracking for the major-I took 4 Art History classes my senior fall. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m really glad that I did it: learning how to talk in a sophisticated way about art is always a worthwhile thing and also teaches you how to think visually. It has been helpful even in the admissions office because part of our role is communication and making the brochure-how you talk about and show Williams to people who haven’t experienced it, and I find that it’s really helpful to have that background.
You mentioned that double majoring kept you from doing the “liberal arts thing.” What do you think a liberal arts education looks like?
I think when you graduate from a liberal arts college you are promised to be able to think, speak, write, listen, synthesize, analyze and problem solve, and it means that you can approach a reading, a problem, a job from different angles and because of it you’re a more effective thinker. I think it would be a disservice to come to a place like Williams and not step outside of your comfort zone. Even though I know it was really hard for me to do well in the math and science courses I took, and even though my GPA suffered, I am ultimately glad that I took those because I have a very liberal arts understanding of those things, which I think is helpful. I really do value the liberal arts education because I know that in ten years if I change my mind that it won’t be as difficult because it gives you the skill set to change your mind. And although it sounds cheesy, it helps you be a life-long learner.
What did you think you would be doing post-Williams when you first got here?
I knew I would like the feel of being on a college campus so I assumed I would have to be a professor. However, although I really like learning and reading, I realized early on I didn’t want to make it my career. Later, I had some internships and extra-curricular experience that were very higher education and student affairs focused and one day a friend suggested I consider working in admissions. I was always just kind of mesmerized by the art and science of it. As a student, I spent a lot of time when I was here thinking about the community but I thought it would be really interesting to build it. So I realized come senior year exactly what I wanted to do. I have to feel part of a team and a community, and feel that what I’m doing is significant. That’s what I really like about working in admissions so far. I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this. I’d do it for free.
What is your favorite memory from Williams?
My favorite memory is doing Storytime. I love it because it’s such a Williams-y thing. Besides graduation and homecoming, what is more Williams-y than Storytime? I was excited to be asked to speak because of all the people who were there: my mom came and my best friend sat next to me on the couch and held my tissues because I would be talking about my dad who was sick. I ended up holding it together more than I thought though. So many of my frosh were there, classmates, friends, faculty, staff and students alike. Even though I was speaking in front of that many people, it felt very much like a conversation and I felt very welcomed and at home. I talked about my dad and I told my story starting with growing up, how I got to Williams, and what my experience here had been like at that point like I would tell it to my dad. Because my dad is sick, he, in a lot of ways, wasn’t able to be there in a way that I expected him to be. A lot of what I shared at story-time were the highlights that I would tell my dad: the lessons I had learned here because of him. It was for me a really heartwarming, kind of closing to my time at Williams. I’m really glad I shared my story and it was so humbling to see how many people wanted to listen. That was kind of the pinnacle I think.
Could you define Storytime?
Once a week, every Sunday, members of the Williams community–students, faculty, staff–come together in Paresky (the student center) for anywhere between half an hour to an hour and they listen to one person’s story which can be about anything from how they got to Williams, to something seemingly unrelated that all kind of ties back together. What I like about storytime is that some of them are funny, some are heavy, some are serious, but they’re all really poignant. It’s pretty unique and impressive about Williams: the fact that up to 100 people will turn up on Sunday, homework day, in the student center to listen to somebody who they may or may not know and value this person’s words more than anything else in that moment. I think it speaks to the strength of what it means to go here, which has always impressed and humbled me.
What advice would you give to current Williams students, especially the seniors, as they think about their lives post-Williams?
For those who are certain of what they want to do after Williams, it’s awesome that you know what you want but keep in mind that there are so many options. For those who aren’t sure, ask yourself questions and think “well, I like that, I don’t like that”: it’s just as helpful to eliminate what you know you don’t want to do as it is to figure out exactly what you want to do. It is okay to try something out and it is okay to take time to collect yourself and figure it out. Although the pressure to graduate with a job is there, I think it’s more important to be taking note of what’s important to you and formulating a plan to get there. Really, it’s about the who, what and where. Surround yourself by people who support you but also challenge you. Do something you’re good at, but is also meaningful to you, that allows you to make a difference, whether it be in a big or small way. And for the where, think of locations that would be pleasing to you. Don’t think about the specifics of how much money you make–it’s more about making sure you have the support and the resources to figure things out because, I think, inevitably that first year after graduation is really hard. That’s why it’s so important to graduate in pieces and to really enjoy your senior year. Focus on what’s happening here because come graduation you’re an alum and it’s simply not the same anymore. There are awesome things about being an alum and establishing a different relationship with the college, but you’re a student here for 4 sometimes 5 very sweet short years so it’s important to focus on that.
How did Williams change you?
On the silly side, Williams ignited my passion for the color purple, play on words and anything involving the “Eph” sound. Seriously speaking, I don’t think about me as changed since high school, but I do think that, as I saw on an “I am Williams” poster, “Williams discovered me.” I think I’m fundamentally the same young woman that I was in high school with what I like to think are strong and good beliefs, but Williams gave me a voice. Very literally in that I lead an entry and that I had the privilege of leading college council, both areas in which I had to have a voice. It empowered me to remember that what I have to say is important and that equally important to that is listening, and that’s the biggest lesson I learned from Williams. I will forever be grateful of the responsibility that was afforded to me here and all the people that I met and the little lessons they taught me, and for the happiness, not without struggle, that I felt here. Williams has shown me that it is possible to change the world and that’s what I’m going to strive for, not only for myself but also for any communities I’m a part of. I’m going to take a little bit of Williams with me everywhere I go.