Naeema: My Take
Video
Naeema is shown in a neutral-background interview setting speaking into the camera.
Audio
Naeema:
“I guess I wanted to be in an environment where I was intellectually challenged and have that space where other women were kind of on the same page. And it’s great. But you know what’s great about Mount Holyoke? There’s not that sense of competitive — people aren’t competing. Everyone is kind of a high achiever — not kind of, everyone is a high achiever, but you don’t have that sense of competition, I’m out to get you. It’s like, okay, we’re all here together, and we’re going to make it happen for each other … You are going to work hard. We get a lot of homework, a lot of papers, and we take on these extra kind of projects and initiatives. A lot of women really pursue independent projects. They go abroad, they come back, they write big papers. There’s just a sense of like, you know, I am interested in learning about this topic, and how are you going to help me get there? And you know, very proactive about their education. So I guess that’s the sense that I get at Mount Holyoke, just this kind of proactive vibe that I’m interested in just learning and being smart and being comfortable in my skin. And I’m interested in having intellectual conversations with different kinds of people, and it doesn’t have to stop, you know, in the classroom … And that’s why I like the library as well, because you go there, and everyone else is kind of focused, and doing their own thing. And it’s just this affirmation that it’s okay to be smart and to be a woman … And it’s hard, because when you leave college, and you go into social spaces where there are men and other women, there’s this kind of emphasis on the woman — or you feel as though women kind of dumb themselves down. They’re not as articulate. And they have to act a certain way. And for me, I’m like, I’m Naeema, I’m smart, I like to read, I like to have intellectual conversations, and that doesn’t have to stop after I leave the classrooms.”
For more information on women’s education
(Links to related sites outside this tour)
- Check out some of our notable alumnae …
- Meet the Mount Holyoke alumnae featured on postage stamps…
- Meet the Women’s Education Worldwide, an international initiative founded by Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges to advance the cause of educating women around the globe…
- Learn about Women’s Education Worldwide Alliance: “Women's Dreams and Leadership” conference
- Understand Mount Holyoke’s role in “Women’s Education Worldwide,” which it co-sponsored with Smith
- Read President Joanne V. Creighton’s op-ed piece on “the great unfinished agenda of the 21st century” …
- Meet the Women’s College Coalition, an association of women’s colleges and universities in the United States and Canada whose primary mission is the education and advancement of women …
- See the Women’s College Coalition’s ad in the New York Times …
- Visit the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, a site for scholarly activity on issues relating to women and gender that is located on the Mount Holyoke campus…
About This Site
This transcript is a companion to the My Point of View Tour, a multimedia site presenting the Mount Holyoke experience through photos, audio clips, and video clips. If you have suggestions about how to improve the accessibility of this site, please contact us.