Kemper Conference: The End

 

Knox Kempers with Faculty Advisor John Spittell and Foundation Directors Dr. Ryan LaHurd and E.B. Smith

Last week was my final Kemper Conference as an active scholar. Of course, it hurt to say goodbye. Kemper has meant so much to me over the past three years, and I’m eternally grateful for the amount of interest they have taken in my personal and professional development. As I have said on numerous occasions to Dr. LaHurd, the president of the foundation, Kemper has given me a confidence in myself that I never knew I had. While I’m facing the final year of school with the pervasive liberal arts question of “what am I going to do when I graduate?!”, I’m overwhelmed at the number of possible options as opposed to the lack of them. There are so many wonderful opportunities to pursue, it’s hard to pick just one. This is a good problem to have, and I feel lucky that I get to make this kind of decision.

 

The annual conference, which took place on August 6th and 7th, is a bite-size sample of everything that I value about the program. Rising-juniors give presentations about the work they did in non-profit organizations, while rising-seniors hold break-out sessions focused on their work in the for-profit sector. Rising-sophomores, the newbies, soak it all in and get thrown into a whirlwind of networking with strangers who may well soon become some of their closest friends. This buzz of “unusual maturity,” as Kemper puts it, is defined by a tone of professionalism of respect. The program is already unique, but this, to me, is what sets it apart-serious and intentional respect for one another.

 

As liberal arts students, we are constantly asked, “well, why’d you pick that major?” or “how is that going to help you get a job?” We are often forced to reduce our passions into digestible nuggets of perceived value, in an effort to get a nod of approval from whomever we are trying to validate our experience for. The Kemper program, and more specifically the conference, is a refreshing anecdote to this pervasive cultural attitude. At the Kemper conference, you are taken seriously. You are respected. Your interests and activities are not something that you try to streamline. They are an important part of why you are there, and everyone takes them seriously. They are something to build upon.

During the sophomore’s speeches this year, I looked out on the audience. Almost a quarter of the crowd was advisors and seasoned professionals, all listening intently and engaging with what the speakers had to say. As a Kemper Scholar, you are respected by respectable people, which gives you confidence. Much like liberal arts, it is a slow, accumulated experience. When I found out that I was chosen for the program my freshman year, I knew that it was a big deal. I knew that I had come for a liberal arts education, and I knew that to have the supplemental support of Kemper would be valuable. I had no idea just how important it would be. Indeed, the power of the two-liberal arts and Kemper-creates such an incredible positive feedback loop, that it gives me chills to think about what my peers in the program are going to accomplish in the years to come.

 

Which made it all the harder to say goodbye. I have a good feeling that this isn’t the last I will see of them, though.