Our Wildwood, Summer 2016, Volume 39

What do you think makes Wildwood, Wildwood?

A

At Wildwood, the student’s voice is heard. When a student has a passion about something or is curious about learning something that might not be studied in the classroom, they have an opportunity to dive deeper into that subject. For me, philanthropy and nonprofit work is something that I’ve always been interested in—I’m going to study it in college—and I went to my history teacher in my junior year and asked her if she’d help me start a club. I’ve worked on that club a lot, and that was a part of me that I discovered through Wildwood. When I first met you, you were a little bit tentative. Now I see you as super confident. What do you think accounts for that shift? My Gateway presentation theme in Division Three [10th grade] was that I was a spectator versus a player. I kind of sat on the sidelines. I’d rather listen. I think that I’ve become a player because of the support I got from people who were able to encourage me. Growing and having the support of especially my teachers telling me that I can do it gave me confidence. Before, I didn’t think I was a leader. I was more of a bystander, kind of hidden. Opportunities like student ambassador and peer mentor have allowed me to be a leader in the things that I’m passionate about. J

JULIA

Julia Broudy, attending University of Wisconsin, Madison Annie Barnes, humanities teacher

During the college application process, did you end up going where you thought you would, or was there some sort of shift that happened? When I started the college application process, I was applying “Undecided” everywhere. It’s kind of interesting to take all these classes that you haven’t heard of before, and I like that idea. Then, as I did more research, I started finding things that I was really interested in. I ended up applying directly into the School of Human Ecology at Wisconsin, which only has six majors in it. So, for a big university, that’s tiny. I applied directly into this major called Community and Nonprofit Leadership. I got directly into it. Going from applying “Undecided” to actually

Why did you choose Wisconsin?

I’ve always known that I wanted to go somewhere big. I’m very grateful for the education that I got at Wildwood, and I think that it has allowed me to feel ready to go out into the world and experience something new. The major and the school I found kind of put those two together very easily for me. People in the Midwest are also really nice. They’re very friendly, which I like. And I think if I have my big winter coat, I’ll be just fine.

already knowing my major before going into my freshman year is a pretty big leap, I would say.