My name is Debbie Sackman and I’m your Parent-to-Parent contact person. I look forward to answering your questions and concerns about sending your daughter to Sweet Briar College. ☺
So let’s get directly to the million-dollar question: If Sweet Briar was closing due to “insurmountable financial challenges” and “declining enrollment,” why am I allowing my daughter, Julia Rhinehart, a rising sophomore pre-vet student, to return to Sweet Briar College? Sooo many reasons, but for today, let me focus on one — Sweet Briar’s new leadership.
An impressive, dedicated team with experience turning around organizations is now running the school:
• New President Phillip Stone is a man of many accomplishments, most importantly turning around Bridgewater College. During his tenure, Bridgewater grew in stature and saw great progress and expansion in all areas of campus life, including undergraduate programs, athletics, facilities and technology. In his first 10 years, enrollment increased by 78 percent, according to the BC website. After reading multiple sources about President Stone, including his message to the Sweet Briar community, and hearing that he didn’t need a contract to get started because he would stay as long as Sweet Briar wanted him to, I become more impressed with this man every day.
• The chair of the board of directors, the Honorable Teresa Pike Tomlinson ’87, is a visionary leader who is taking on the position, in addition to her responsibilities as mayor of Columbus, Ga., because she loves Sweet Briar and can see its potential for future generations. I recommend you listen to her commencement address from Sweet Briar’s graduation in May – that speech says it all. You can also read it here, but I recommend listening to the audio – this is an impressive and impassioned woman who is determined to rebuild Sweet Briar to be here another 114 years and beyond.
• The new board of directors is composed of leaders who get things done. These individuals took these unpaid positions, which have already required many hours of their time, because they heard the Sweet Briar story and wanted to be part of helping the new Sweet Briar to not just survive, but flourish! There are so many great people on the board, it’s too much to include here so I’ll talk more about them individually in future postings.
For these people, failure is not in their vocabularies. And the staff members who remain at the College feel the same way. When you combine talent, experience and motivation, great things are achieved. I know firsthand that these people, plus Sweet Briar staff, plus LOTS of volunteers are working around the clock to make Sweet Briar not just survive another year, but to make Sweet Briar flourish more than it ever has before.
What an exciting time to be part of Sweet Briar history! Do you want your daughter to go where she’ll be one of many other students, or do you want her to be part of a tight-knit community dedicated to your daughter’s success? And not just academic success (although that is extremely important), but also her personal and emotional growth. To become a Sweet Briar woman is to be a confident, strong and independent leader, ready to become whoever she wants to be. Isn’t that what you want for your daughter?
I and others have so many more reasons to tell you in upcoming posts, so please stay tuned! Keep your questions and concerns coming. The staff is working like crazy seven days a week to get you answers, and as your advocate, the parents’ advocate, I will be helping too. My goal is that you will be as excited as I am to have your daughter be part of this amazing time in Sweet Briar history.
As President Stone said, “I want us to have fun doing this. Sweet Briar was not only saved, it will be renewed.”
Until next time ☺ …
Reach me at SBCParentToParent@gmail.com
What a fabulous, well written article. I trust SBC because my eldest daughter graduated in 2014 and is flourishing in a high paced economics/ statistics career. But many others don’t know her story and this post can help prevent helicopter parenting. Sweet Briar is truly a place where your daughter can work to make it HER first home –away from her family –her first struggle success (or just glide through in apathy and eventually pull it altogether with some help from her alumna sisters). It is your daughter’s first home , away from YOUR home together!
Thank you Dolores! And thank you for sharing your daughter’s story; I am thrilled to hear that she is doing great, another wonderful testimonial of the impressive women that Sweet Briar creates!
This is terrific! When our son was at the Naval Academy, there was a site like this, and it was very helpful for parents to get FAQ’s answered without hogging admin’s time. Also, nothing beats the parental insight; no official “talking points,” just the lived experience. Nicely done. Thank you.
Alumna, ’71 and parent of ’00.
Thank you Kathy! And thank you for your feedback on the value of this webpage, good to know that we are doing something useful 🙂
Hurt, hesitation, trepidation were swarming around each student who listened to the announcement on 3 March, and then frantically looked for Plan B to continue her education. Meanwhile parents, such as I, comforted, and assisted our daughter to find another college to replicate the school in as many ways as possible. For me, it was one eye on Plan B, and the other on the daily headlines.
I was born an optimist, and adventurous (read risk-taker) is my middle name. As events unfolded starting on Day One, 3 March and moving toward Day 109, 20 June, I witnessed a steady, methodical awaking of thousands of the alumnae, faculty, administration, students, community, and friends who ultimately reversed the decision to make 25 August 2015 the last day. My eyes focused on what lay ahead. The dead end at the 114 year old road was removed. The emotional roller coaster ride had come to an end, and replaced with a 7 day a week herculean labor of love.
Throughout this entire episode my daughter remained guarded, her heart frozen from the pain of the past, and fear of the future. So many questions, so many unknowns. So many close friends, so many outrageously wonderful experiences squelched by a rug being literally yanked out from under her feet.
Plan B had been executed. The new school had been selected. The admissions fee paid, and course selections were in the works as of this late June. Then a miracle occurred. My daughter started to have a change of heart. Deeply emotional discussions with friends, alumnae, faculty, admissions, and a host of others started to melt the ice. Over the course of several recent weeks the pain and fear subsided; hope rose up until she said to me several days ago, “I am returning to Sweet Briar.”
I support her decision whole-hardheartedly. Why? First, it was her decision based on a lengthy soul-searching, and reading. Reading about President Phillip Stone, the Board, faculty and staff who are totally committed to righting a wrong; and President Stone declaring:
“I know that development and successful implementation of a sound plan to rebuild Sweet Briar will earn my incoming administration the growing confidence of faculty and current and prospective students who can trust that their Sweet Briar careers and education will never be interrupted again.”
Second, the tremendous outpouring of support from so many to meet, exceed the financial milestones set by the ruling by the Honorable James W. Updike Jr. As of this writing two of the three have been attained, and the third and final, well, I have no doubt. They are one step away from saving the school for her students, not to put a feather in their cap.
It’s going to be a long and challenging road, but isn’t the road to excellence just that?
So, if you and your daughter are still undecided, this parent, my daughter, truly believe the opportunity to be a student at Sweet Briar at this time in Daisy’s history is without question, unparalleled.
In closing I offer this poignant quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “ Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Christopher, thank you for sharing your family’s story. For our family too “…it was one eye on Plan B, and the other on the daily headlines.” We were fighting in the trenches with the Saving Sweet Briar organization, but we never could be sure until the day Judge Updike signed the documents that we could truly count on our daughter coming back to “Sweet Breezy” as the girls call it. And yes, there will still be ups and downs, but I have no doubt that the revived Sweet Briar is on the road to the best it has ever been, in part because of families like yours and mine and all the others plus all the wonderful people focusing on the goal to make it so.
My daughter, Sophia, is 11. She has her eyes fixed on joining the class of 2026. She’s entering Middle School this Fall and has ridden this tidal wave of her mom’s alma mater for the last five months. Sophia has attended my reunions, and we have visited the campus a few times together just for fun over the years, and she is transfixed every time by its beauty and the magic of discovery in every building. When she found out that her head counselor at her beloved girls camp, Camp Carysbrook, is a Sweet Briar student, she was definitive that we must save it so she could enroll there one day.
I grew up with five sisters. Five of the six of us attended women’s colleges. All of us have advanced degrees in either law, medicine, public health or education. We are mothers and professionals and wives who are well-rounded, confident, and grounded. Life has thrown us each our curve balls and we have faced them with grace. I am certain that my success in life is rooted in the rolling dells of Sweet Briar College. I thank all you current parents who are instrumental in preserving this place so that Sophia can have the chance to follow in your daughters’ footsteps, as pioneers of a stronger, more sustainable college.