Hi, my name’s Britt Harwood, and I’m a Roeper lifer. I started in nursery school and graduated in 2005. Last May, I graduated from Brown University with a double major in Comparative Literature and Public Policy. I’d like to share some lessons from Roeper that helped me through college and continue to help me today.

As a Roeper student, you have to question everything, think for yourself, and make connections. Not all students leave high school as independent thinkers, but the ability to inquire is the single most important part of academia. When I went to college, I brought intellectual rigor and curiosity with me, because I grew up in an environment that fostered it.

Roeper also engages in a constant dialogue about values. It’s an idealistic place, but its ideals are grounded in the principle that people’s actions directly shape the world around them. As a student, I always had to examine what kind of person I wanted to be, what kind of world I wanted to live in, and how I wanted to help create it. Now that I’m facing major decisions about my future, the intuitions I developed when I was young guide me to make choices that reflect my beliefs.

Finally, I think that Roeper students experience a kind of compassion and tolerance that runs very deep. The Roeper community challenged me to respect everyone for his or her unique worth as an individual. Away from Roeper, I’ve found that respecting others in a meaningful way brings respect back to me; it makes me a more trustworthy person, and it makes life much more interesting.

Roeper’s is not a “textbook” education—but the lessons I learned about living will stick with me long after I’m out of school, and I’m grateful for that.

Britt Harwood
Roeper Class of 2005