MU| F e a t u r e s
Rundell, for instance,
grew up one of
nine children of
a housepainter in
a small Indiana
factory town. Home-
schooled, she never
considered college
until she graduated
as her high school
class valedictorian.
Manchester opened
the world to her;
besides singing in
Carnegie Hall and
spending a semester
in Paris, she graduated
with degrees in French
and English, landed
a Fulbright grant to
study in Morocco and
ended up studying law
at Harvard.
Would that have happened had she not gone
to Manchester, with its emphasis on service
and improving the human condition?
“Well, I was born and raised and still am
a Quaker, and Quakers are very service-
oriented,” Edgerton says. “Just that kind of
underlying spirit of service was kind of in my
personal DNA. (But) I think Manchester just
reinforced that.”
As did the nurturing environment that gives
Manchester students the time and guidance to
find their own path.
“Just so many
opportunities,” she
says. “French really
opened the door to
study language and cultures and travel and do
things that it turned out I loved to do. English,
reading ... You know people tell me they’re
terrified going to law school, and I was, as
much as anyone. But I think the terror I did
not have, I knew I could write well. I knew that
because I felt like I had been pushed here.”
And Varner?
She sensed the moment she set foot on campus
that here was a place as much about learning
and growth as preparing for a worthwhile
career.
“I wasn’t sure yet going into college what
I wanted,” she recalls. “And so I wanted a
university that was going to be supportive of
that. I was looking for an environment – an
environment where I could learn, where I
could grow, and that really aligned with my
values. That was much more important to
me.”
And so she became Exhibit A for a home
truth: That a college education, particularly
at Manchester, is a voyage of discovery.
Encouraged by the Manchester charge, she
indulged her curious mind with everything
from Old Testament studies to the Spanish
language to psychology and English.
At every turn, she was encouraged by what
she calls “amazing mentors and advisors,”
and by her academic advisor, who deftly (and
patiently) guided Varner toward what Varner
calls “the best experience for me.”
“I think for me, I kind of got in the mindset
that I wanted to take classes about what is
more interesting to me, because I realized I
did not have a specific career path,” recalls
Varner, who is now working toward a Ph.D. in
counseling psychology at Ball State. “So I just
kind of let my interests in the moment guide
me through all of that. And, surprisingly, (my
triple major) has related very well for me.”
Like Edgerton, Stocker, Rundell and so many
others, it enabled her to find a meaningful
purpose. To find, eventually, one’s best self.
“When I visited MU, it was a ‘click,’” Varner
says. “The values were a big piece of that
as well, valuing diversity and valuing social
justice. I learned so much just through that
environment.”
By Benjamin Smith
Manchester | 25