黑料专区

Patricia 鈥淧atty鈥� Clarke Erickson 鈥�71, says that when her daughter, Sarah Erickson 鈥�03, was four years old, she boldly proclaimed her intention to attend Pfeiffer and then never wavered in her wish to follow in her mother鈥檚 footsteps — and those of Patty鈥檚 mother, Carol Whittaker Clarke-Avrick 鈥�45.

Carol attended Pfeiffer when it was a junior college, at the height of World War II. After that, she graduated from Greensboro College, but when she tells stories about her 鈥渃ollege days鈥� — and there are many, often colorful ones — they鈥檙e always about Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer鈥檚 close-knit community is often referred to as the 鈥淧feiffer Pfamily.鈥� Although Sarah, Patty and Carol reinforce this image in an unusually multigenerational way, their experiences on the University鈥檚 Misenheimer campus differed markedly, as did the benefits they derived from them.

Carol, who originally hails from Connecticut, chose to attend Pfeiffer because it was considerably less expensive than comparable colleges in New England. Not surprisingly, she contended with a bit of culture shock while adjusting to Misenheimer. For example, she recalls well that, no matter how hot and humid the weather got, she wasn鈥檛 permitted to wear shorts on campus.

In the 1940s, when Carol attended Pfeiffer, the women so outnumbered the men that she recalls any meaningful socializing with the opposite sex came courtesy of soldiers bussed in from Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) for the occasional dance.

To hear her tell it, the most daring thing she and her fellow classmates did, all dressed neatly in skirts and sweaters, was buy a pack of cigarettes at a nearby general store, and then, after surreptitiously walking down a country road, puff on them as they sat on a bridge.

Carol鈥檚 daughter, Patty, says she felt the pull of Pfeiffer when, as a high school student, she accompanied her mother to a reunion gathering and was really taken with the atmosphere, which was marked by everyone 鈥渉aving such a good time.鈥� When Patty became a Pfeiffer student, though, she needed time to adjust to an environment that 鈥渨as very different from any place I had ever been to or seen in my entire life.鈥� The graduates of her high school, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., outnumbered

Pfeiffer鈥檚 entire student body, for example, and her high school鈥檚 buildings outnumbered those on Pfeiffer鈥檚 campus.

Patty would major in Christian education and, later, work in Christian education ministries for the United Methodist Church. She says she still occasionally checks in with Falcons whom she befriended during her student days.

鈥淚 thoroughly enjoyed my time there,鈥� she said.

The third generation of her family to attend Pfeiffer, Sarah experienced a very different campus atmosphere than her mother and grandmother: the strict dress codes her grandmother remembers were a thing of the past, dorm mothers no longer managed residence halls, and technology created an entirely new classroom standard. The daughter of a United Methodist minister who grew up in Virginia, Sarah said she can鈥檛 really explain why she remained fixated on attending Pfeiffer in her youth, or why trips with her mother to see other colleges never came close to changing her mind.

鈥淧feiffer just really seemed like the school for me,鈥� she said from her home in Columbus, Ohio. 鈥淣o one from my high school was going there. I liked that it was small enough that you didn鈥檛 feel lost. You felt like you were really a part of Pfeiffer and all that made it feel really comfortable for me.鈥�

Sarah praised Pfeiffer for giving her the space to find her true calling. In time, she replaced her initial major, music, with something radically different: environmental science, now called Environment and Sustainability Studies.

鈥淚 liked being outside,鈥� Sarah said. 鈥淚 liked the science of it. I liked learning ways to be kind to the Earth and to encourage people to be kind to the environment.鈥�

It took some time for Sarah to determine what she鈥檇 do with her bachelor鈥檚 degree in environmental science. When she did, it was as the founding program director for of Columbus, Ohio, which offers a summer camp and other programs designed to show its participants how to 鈥渉ave a personal connection with the environment.鈥�

Sarah described numerous activities ranging from lessons on how to grow your own food to simply 鈥済etting kids outside, digging in the dirt, exploring the creek, looking for fossils, looking for crayfish, and climbing trees.鈥�

The Sunbury experience 鈥渋s my way of using my environmental science degree to pay it forward and teach the next generation the importance of sustainability and protecting the environment,鈥� she added.

Although Sarah is proud to be a third generation Pfeiffer alumna, she jokingly tells her mother not to expect her to contribute a fourth-generation member to the line-up. However, having worked with youth for much of her life (she has also directed Girl Scout camps), she鈥檚 in a position to influence the college choices of potentially thousands of kids.

鈥淚鈥檓 sure I would recommend Pfeiffer to a young high schooler if they were looking for colleges,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was such an amazing place and still is.鈥�

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We are proud of the generations of alumni who make the 黑料专区 experience part of their family tradition. Are you part of a Pfeiffer legacy? Did some of your siblings also call Pfeiffer home? Did you live in Rowe Hall, just like your grandmother, or take a class from the same chemistry professor as your father? Campus may look a little different these days, but Black & Gold pride has remained constant throughout generations, and that鈥檚 worth celebrating! Let us know if you are part of a Pfeiffer Family Legacy. Send us an email at advance@pfeiffer.edu.