Graci Vlattas
Deadline Editor
Here at Sewanee, and with university life as a whole, academics can rapidly become serious. The dates of first exams and the deadlines of first projects for classes are quickly approaching, only to be followed by the prompt encroachment of midterms and finals. Students are holed up in study spaces like the library or the basement of Gailor Hall, cranking out papers and study sessions to receive the grade they strive for. Sometimes, it can get very tricky, and we are not always going to make that good grade when it counts. However, despite all that, being a student is not only about an A+. It is a much more diverse experience. But that raises the question at a school like Sewanee: What really goes into academics? The academic society Order of the Gown offers an answer.
The OG dedicates itself to cultivate an environment that encourages academic excellence. Established in 1873, each student that meets the GPA and honor requirements receives a gown, the symbol of the society, during a gowning ceremony that occurs every semester. Anyone can get a gown, and the requirements are flexible to the student’s amount of credit hours and grade year. Exclusion and segregation taints the history of the OG, but the council of this year is dedicated to create a community of self-expression, curiosity and coalescence. The gowning for this Advent semester occurred on Friday, Sept. 18. Many sophomores, juniors and seniors excitedly celebrated their pursuit of academics and their success thus far.
What does it mean to be a part of the OG? It is a revered organization on campus with sacred traditions that we are taught our first year, but what does it actually mean to the recent inductees, the veteran members and the executive chairs? Betsy Baker (CO ’27), president of the OG, explained that the goal for the OG is to elevate the student experience of attendees here at Sewanee.
“The Order of the Gown exists in an ecosystem of student experience. Part of why we want to collaborate with so many different student organizations and stay in communication with so many student organizations, as well as faculty, administration, and staff, is because we recognize the academic experience,” said Baker. “Everyone comes to college to get a degree, to have an education, but that is only a narrow picture of what the student experience actually is. And so, while the OG, of course, focuses on academics, we also want to incorporate academics into a broader identity of student life and student experience.”
There are many experiences to explore at college, each one crucial and important in their own way. We choose to partake in student athletics, work studies, Greek life, volunteering and various organizations. Each choice we make helps to advance us in our specific fields and paths, and it is important we hone the extracurriculars available to us. Baker herself is an integral member of the Community Engagement House, the Writing Center and the Center for Speaking and Listening along with being the OG president. She emphasized how every organization on this campus is equally important, and how OG reaches out to as many as possible to unify their work.
“We work really closely with SGA, which is sort of our sibling student government organization. Also the honor council is a huge part of what we do. IFC and ISC, Greek life, organizations and councils are really important for communication. We also work with SAC, the athletic board. We work with the NAACP. We work with the OCCU and HOLA and BSU. A broad range of organizations from academic governance and honor and excellence, and then also the athletic experience and the international experience and students of color who are on campus and trying to support them. We try to encompass a broad range of student experiences,” she said.
The unique student experience is something that the OG works to cultivate, but how does that affect the students themselves? We all prioritize different classes and tests and events to build the college experience we want for ourselves, and we make commitments to coalitions that reflect our character. We all have separate lives: our academic lives, our social lives, our work lives. With all this work, a healthy balance is a hard thing to achieve. The members of the OG not only pursue academic excellence but do it while striving to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Keagan Southall (C ’29), a core member of the field hockey team and a newly inducted member of the OG, spoke on the struggle but importance of balancing the responsibilities of a student athlete. “Balancing school and sports is not always easy. As a student-athlete, you have to give your best effort in the classroom while also putting in hours of practice, training, and competition,” Southall said. “There are days when you are tired or overwhelmed, but you still have responsibilities to take care of. I think being a student-athlete teaches you how to manage your time, stay committed, and keep working even when things get difficult.”
Academic excellence, and the pursuit of such, takes hard work. The members of the OG know this, as well as every student and faculty member on this campus. Everyone puts in their best effort for everything they do, that is what Sewanee is about. And the OG, as well as trusted friends and mentors, push the idea of a healthy balance that gives us enough time to grow.
Baker said, “Academic excellence requires sustainability in your habits and in your practice. There will, of course, be some nights when you have to stay late in the library and crunch in a paper or whatever. That’s inevitable. That’s part of the experience. And I think that’s healthy because that can teach you about time management.”
Even though the academic grind will teach us difficult lessons, Baker thinks that giving ourselves a break is important as well. “[It’s] important to rest, important to recuperate, important to spend time with friends, spend time with people who mean a lot to you, and who fulfill your cup. I think it’s [a] balanced and an imperfect process, right?”
Every person on this campus is vital. The athletes, artists, workers, faculty, members and non-members of the OG all play their role into making Sewanee what it is. We are all here to explore what we want to make of our life, and academics just so happens to be what the OG specializes in.
Order of the Gown induction ceremony, photo by Graci Vlattas.
Baker left us with a call to embrace everyone and a reminder that the OG strives to understand the moving parts of the student experience. “Embracing the student athlete, embracing the student leader, embracing the artist who’s also the student, the worker who’s also a student, the people who are paying their way through college, and the people who have big dreams to go into corporate worlds, or people who want to have a family, and just embracing all of those student perspectives and experiences as both completely legitimate and super valuable, and then also [embracing the fact] that each one of those students has the capacity to be the most excellent they can possibly be. And it’s our role, our opportunity, and our privilege to encourage students to aspire towards that ideal. That goal.”
When we are with ourselves at the end of the day, we all must look inward and ask what it is we are fostering; what experience do we want to create for ourselves? What step will we take next?
Congratulations to everyone who was inducted into the OG and to many more.
Throughly enjoyed reading about the Gown. I cherished mine during my years at the College and then at the Seminary. I dreamed of passing it on to my children and grandchild who attended and were graduated from Sewanee. However, I lent it to be used as a costume for Halloween and it was lost and never returned. I am proud to say it rivaled Smith’s gown and I miss it!!