| BJM, my favorite sister in-law was previously president of a noted girls' high school in Denver and for quite a few years now has been the CFO of the private school in Seattle that Bill Gates & Paul Allen graduated from. She was/is very concerned about the phenomenon of girls "turning themselves off", beginning in middle school, when the hormones hit and they begin to be concerned about being appealing to guys.
With that as context, Smith first got high on my D's radar screen at a Smith prospect party when a current Smithie was talking about the difference of young women at Amherst(! for you) and young women at Smith. She said that the women at Amherst were content to let themselves be overshadowed and/or overpowered by the men and that the students at Smith just weren't like that. I was standing off way to the side and could see my D sitting crosslegged on the floor as she listened and it was like watching a cartoon character have a lightbulb appear overhead.
Just the month before, one of her classmates--a cheerleader but bright enough, had said in one of the AP classes, "Can't you at least try to fit in?"
By "fit in" she meant acting like a lot of other girls, not challenging the boys, not participating beyond what was required in class, etc.
D was having none of it and upon hearing this Smithie speak, there was a sense of, "I've got to find out more about this."
And the rest, as they say, is history. |