Thank You

By Kenna Cramer

The Iowa Program consists of a seemingly similar group of students: highly ambitious, politically charged young-adults. This surface-level assessment is true in some regards; all of us would not be here without such a drive. However, this particular student body is innately diverse, which, I will not lie, initially gave me a reservation. 

My reservation does not stem from the concept of diversity itself (and in regards to diverse political affiliation) but, rather, the lack of interconnectedness amongst different groups within Elon itself. As a sophomore, I can confidently say that I greatly enjoy our university, however, it and, maybe the student body as a whole, perpetuates a segregated community. As stereotyped, those within Greek-Life Organizations (including myself) only fraternize with affiliated members, and other club-groups only socialize within their circle. I entered Iowa with such preconceived perceptions and, as a result, hesitations, which I have previously observed many others may hold as well. 

I recognize the wrongs within this view and am sad to admit I feel and view our university in this way. However, as this trip has progressed, I have felt these assumptions slowly dissolve, especially after last night’s meeting. 

After the Buttigieg town hall, as a class, we began our typical meeting. The meeting itself followed a town hall that, in of itself, was very emotionally charged for not only Pete supporters but outsiders as well. This resulted into a high-charged, high-tension discussion. In this discussion, I shared a difficult snippet of my life and mental illness. This was not only very emotional and difficult for me to express but I believe for others to hear; no singular student caused my emotional state, rather, my resonation with the presidential positions and exhaustion of the day (and lack of food) was the primary cause of this. 

Following the meeting, one of the other Pete volunteers and I were waiting for our dinner. In that time, a multitude of our fellow students came up to us and told us of their own battles with mental illness, thanked me for vocalizing my story, and/or apologized for “causing” my upset state. However, with this blog post, I want to take the time to thank all of my fellow students and our professors. Not only has everyone cultivated a comfortable sharing environment to allow for such difficult discussion to occur, but have enlightened me to how, despite our diverse Elon affiliations, are in fact all similar; we all care about one another. We, as an Elon community, care for one another despite our differences and, in turn, recognize the value in our differences. With such a chaotic, angry political climate, and the world in general, such simple kindness and empathy need to be cherished and spread; we, as Elon students, can help create a better, more accepting world.