History of Otterbein

So, this is my first time blogging. It is kind of a daunting experience, but I'm sure I'll learn as I go. I'll keep my fingers crossed, anyway. My second week at Otterbein was just as hectic as the first, but my FYS class definitely gave me some time to sit back and let some of my experiences soak in. We had a lot of interesting speakers come and generously spend their evening teaching us about their areas of expertise. I am very grateful to them! Each taught us something different about what it means to be a women and how we can better ourselves and others by stepping up into a leadership role. I am excited to get started.
My favorite speaker, though, by far was the Otterbein archivist who came to talk to us about women in the history of the school. I was really surprised to see how many women have made such a huge impact on the creation of Otterbein and how even today they are still making a difference. I feel very proud to go to the university that was technically the first to allow women and men to attend. Even if there was another school that allowed women to attend before Otterbein, I was pleased to hear that Otterbein was the first to allow women to attend from the day it began. I was especially interested to hear about the Hanby family at Otterbein because I live in Hanby Hall. The pictures in the slide show that the archivist used were very interesting to me too. I enjoyed seeing the changes in women's dress and even their facial expressions throughout the decades. In a lot of the older pictures, it was discouraging to see so many women look so sullen and worn down, but I guess that a lot of these aspects can be attributed to the time period. Overall, this was definitely my favorite event of the night, and I really hope to learn more about Otterbein's history during the rest of the time here!