Spending the day in a van delivering meals to terminally ill residents of Alexandria, Virginia does not sound like a typical English 101 class. However, the professor who taught that class was far from typical herself. From time to time I have encountered wonderful, intriguing, genuine human beings, this time that human being turned out to be an English Composition professor at Gettysburg College. Her name is Cyndy Phillips and she provided me with many lessons I will carry throughout my life. In addition to teaching me sentence structure and proper citation, Cyndy taught me how important it is to be curious, persistent, and explore any and all options one may have. Cyndy did things inside and outside the classroom that I had never experienced before.
Inside the classroom Cyndy allowed us to rewrite our papers, always offering us as much help as we needed. One afternoon she organized for our class to order in lunch. During that class period we were able to socialize amongst ourselves and with her, review our papers and eat yummy Chinese food. Cyndy always recognized challenges people were having, whether it was academic or personal and she would work with the student to develop a plan so he or she could overcome whatever obstacle they may have been facing. Cyndy selected books for us that were interesting and educational, including “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom, one of the most inspirational pieces I have ever encountered. Cyndy was also very thorough while grading every assignment we handed in, no matter if the assignment was worth zero or one hundred points we continually received detailed, personal feedback from her. She always strived to acquire our input about assignments and constantly asked our opinions about altering aspects of the course. Finally, Cyndy provided her students with choices. We were able to pick the topics of our papers, were provided with community service options, and we were even given a choice of restaurants to go to on the last day of class.
The most wonderful experience I have ever had with a professor was with Cyndy Phillips. Instead of writing a paper Cyndy gave her students the option of performing community service. We could perform a certain number of hours of community service on our own time and write a short reflection paper on our experience, or we could go with her down to Washington, DC for the weekend and write a short reflection paper about that. I was lucky enough to accompany Cyndy and twelve other students down to DC for a weekend of community service, which really did not feel like service, just a magnificent, learning experience. The first day we were in DC we drove around Alexandria, VA and delivered meals and groceries to terminally ill residents for “Meals on Wheels.” We then visited the Coalition of Homelessness and listened to a panel speak. Finally, we stayed at a Lutheran youth hostile which housed a women’s shelter and my fellow students and I took turns sitting at the front desk of that shelter all night. The next morning we served breakfast at a homeless shelter and encountered dozens of homeless people and had the opportunity to speak with them. Not only did I speak with these homeless people, I had entire conversations with a few women who had a lot to tell me. Those two days virtually wiped out any stereotypes I had about the homeless and terminally ill which had taken me over eighteen years to acquire.
The experience I had that weekend in DC with Cyndy was more insightful and memorable than, in many cases an entire semester of classes. I can only hope that I will encounter another human being like Cyndy and even if I do not, I am happy with the knowledge that other students will receive the same opportunity to get to know and learn from Cyndy Phillips as I have.
-- Holly K. Lewis, American University