Lark Pinney
Features Editor
Who are you and where are you from?
I am Camille Carr and I am from a suburb of Philadelphia called Bala Cynwyd. My family and I have been living there for the past 11 years.
Why Wooster?
During my junior year of high school, my teammate and friend applied to Wooster because she was interested in the Communications Sciences and Disorders program. She ended up not going, but I asked my dad if he’d ever heard of this school, and he said that the best sociologist he knows works at The College of Wooster, and that was Dr. Anne Nurse. Then, my senior year we visited and I really liked it! I originally was going to stay home and go to school in the suburb I grew up in, but last minute I decided to go to Wooster instead.
Who have been some of the most influential people here?
That’s tough, there’s been so many! Every person I’ve met at Wooster has influenced me in some way, from peers to staff to professors. Probably the most influential has been Erin Guzmán, who is the interim chaplain. I met Erin right after I moved in through the Wooster Plunge program. Erin’s guidance has really impacted me and really made me consider ministry as a career path, which was very unexpected.
Tell me more about that!
I don’t know for sure and I don’t think I want to go to divinity school right after I graduate, but Erin was the first spiritual provider I ever had that is progressive. I grew up between a conservative Catholic and Greek Orthodox church, so for one of the first people I met here to be a very progressive person who could provide pastoral care was very influential and really important for my personal development. I also have to say that every Wooster student has experienced this, when people you’ve gotten close with, whether a professor or a staff member, have left the College. That’s happened to me four times and I’d expect it to happen to me again before I graduate — but Erin has been here the entire time that I’ve been here, so I’ve really relied on her and she’s been really helpful.
What’s been one of your favorite Wooster memories?
Symposium my freshman year, I think. It was such a special day, I had so much fun and it was so beautiful to see people’s families and alumni come. I had a lot of fun that day and I left feeling full, in the best kind of way.
How is Junior I.S. going?
It’s going pretty well. I am in the process of collecting materials for my literature review. I’m talking to a few people and I’ve been able to go to a few Zoom conferences on the people I’m interested in. I’ve been trying to narrow down my focus, which has been really hard, but I’m excited!
What is something that you are looking forward to or hoping to achieve in your last year here?
I want to be a TA for an FYS really badly! I also really want to do all the fun senior traditions: getting a brick, getting stoled, turning in my I.S. with my friends, having an I.S. Monday. It’s very bizarre to be entering my last two semesters at Wooster.
If you could give any advice to first-year Camille, what would you say?
I would say keep asking for help. Just keep asking for help and leaning on other people to the best of your ability. Obviously college hasn’t been perfect, and you learn from your mistakes, but I also don’t think I would be the person I am today if I didn’t make some of those mistakes. One thing that’s really gotten me through college is asking for help and being vulnerable. I would not have been able to do this without a lot of different people’s help.
Do you have any hobbies that might surprise people? Or talents?
Some people are weirdly surprised that I’m gay — which, I don’t know why — but that’s happened a few times at Wooster. Also, how much I like dancing at parties and how much I love sports!
Tell me a little about the book that is being published!
The Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition in Pennsylvania reached out to me through my mom and asked if I could produce something they would cosponsor that would be from the perspective of a sibling of someone with a life-limiting disease or the sibling of someone who is disabled. My sister was diagnosed with a neurological disease called muscular leukodystrophy. She relies on the care of others to survive; she cannot walk or talk; she needs to be dressed and fed through a tube. I wanted to accurately portray what it’s like — she’s lost a lot of her independence, but she also can communicate and we also have a lot of fun together. She’s way funnier than me; she’s so funny. I wanted it to be honest. We know someone who could do the illustrations, and I wrote the text, and it just kind of came naturally — how I would explain our relationship in a simple way. Hopefully it will be used by people when they’re trying to process and explain things to children that their sibling has been given a really difficult diagnosis. I hope it’s helpful.