Swarthmore College President Rebecca Chopp grew up in rural Kansas and was among the first in her family to attend college. In this Class Awareness Month event, Rosario Paz '10 interviews President Chopp who shares her experiences of navigating various - and sometimes contradictory - social and cultural spaces in her journey through higher education from her student days to the present. She also took questions from students, faculty, and staff, shedding further light on the complex process of social mobility and identity.

Alumni, parents, and friends joined President Rebecca Chopp for a conversation about intellectual engagement, support for others, and simply having fun at the College during the Chicago Listening Tour event. President Chopp noted that students at the College are truly supportive of one another, and while that often means engaging in rich intellectual discussions, it also means showing up for soccer matches, theater events, and parlor parties to support their peers in a wide variety of extracurricular activities. Of course, underpinning all of the fun and social engagement lies a deep, enduring tradition of intellectual rigor at the College. President Chopp shared "I've encountered it in conversations with students enthusiastic about their honors seminar discussions and seen it in the faces of faculty members who light up when asked about the experience of teaching at this fine institution."

Dom Sagolla '96 (@dom), co-founder of Twitter, spoke on campus about his new book, 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form (@thebook) and demonstrated the companion iPhone app (@bookapp). He encouraged the audience to think of short, 140 character Twitter updates as a new form of literature and to "lead" as a writer in the short form rather than be a follower. The medium is "there to empower you," he said. He engaged the audience in a discussion about topics ranging from the demographics of social networking to how Twitter impacts personal relationships.

Sagolla graduated from Swarthmore with a degree in English Literature and later obtained a Masters in Education from Harvard. He has contributed to Macromedia Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, and Odeo. Currently, he works at DollarApp, an iPhone app development company.

President Rebecca Chopp heard from alumni spanning diverse career paths and age groups at the San Francisco Listening Tour event. Together, they discussed the vital importance of critical thinking as a part of a Swarthmore liberal arts education, the efforts of the Office of Career Services, and ensuring that the community confronts the Swarthmore "bubble" and thinks critically about itself. President Chopp said in regard to careers and a Swarthmore education, "If we really make sure that students are educated to think well, to think critically, they will find their paths."

Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize winner, National Humanities Medalist, and former U.S. Poet Laureate, gave a reading on campus as part of the Cooper Series. She indulged the audience by reading several requested poems and sharing the stories that inspired them as well as a bit about her writing process.

President Rebecca Chopp recently addressed members of the class of 2012, sharing with them her ideas of how they might make the best use of their sophomore year. She encouraged students to learn about, as well as from, other's passions, noting that "exploring, navigating, and cultivating intellectual passion is the special work of the sophomore year."

She shared that experiencing other people's passions is one of the great joys of her job as president and she celebrated the accomplishments of several alumni she's met since joining the Swarthmore community. President Chopp also suggested that students might learn from the faculty's life experiences, when she said "even as you study the subjects that the faculty teach you, study the faculty as exemplars of passionate living."

At her first Listening Tour event, President Chopp says she came away from the evening "impressed – and not the least bit surprised - by the thoughtfulness of Swarthmore alumni, family, and friends and encouraged by the support and enthusiasm for the college, and for my new role here."

In more than a dozen future events, and in general, she adds she is "particularly eager to gain insight into which aspects of the Swarthmore experience should endure; what values we most treasure; and how those values can help shape our decisions as we look forward to the future together."

Peggy Seeger was a special guest at Swarthmore's 2009 Alumni Weekend. She gave a talk titled "Scalpels or Sledgehammers? Music as a Tool for Activism." Her visit was organized by Swarthmore Folk, a group of alumni interested in carrying forward the tradition of folk music on the campus.

In welcoming the Class of 2013, President Rebecca Chopp invoked the College's founders, who "believed that every one should tend his/her own conscience, to 'mind the light' within oneself.

"Tonight," she added, "we induct you into the Swarthmorean tradition of minding the light: critical thinking, questioning your own judgment and that of others, being skeptical but not cynical, taking risks in your exploration of the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences, and participating vigorously in this intensely scholarly community."

Joining President Chopp at the event were Reid Wilkening '10, sociology professor Sarah Willie-LeBreton, and Acting Dean Garikai Campbell '90.

Reid Wilkening '10 assured the Class of 2013 that, "regardless of where you are from, who you are and how many languages you may or may not speak, that you can and will contribute to the Swarthmore community and that you will become a more interesting person if you do so."

Reid, a biology and history major from Denver, Colo., is an RA and a member of the Student Health Advisory Council. As captain of the men's swimming team, he was named to last season's Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll. Last fall, he also helped bring Broken Social Scene and RJD2 to campus as chair of the Large Scale Events committee.