“…[I'll] miss the people. The river is always going to be here. The academic buildings will always be here. Somewhere is another campus center, Great Room, but the people won’t.”
- Connor Dorbin on graduating from St. Mary's College
Conner Dorbin is a senior anthropology major and Museum Studies minor who is graduating in 2018. He decided to attend St. Mary’s College due to its beautiful landscape which reminds him of home, its commitment to environmental sustainability, and the passionate students and faculty. On campus, he works for the Career Development Center as their graphic design fellow, St. Mary’s Boyden Gallery as their Curatorial and Collections Assistant, and has worked at the Archeology lab in Anne Arundel Hall.
Conner’s favorite aspect of the Anthropology major is understanding different cultures: “Us as humans are very diverse in every aspect: to religion, language, to day to day lives. But in the same sense, we are so different, we share many commonalities. We can really understand our existence throughout all space and time. [Anthropology] taught me to be a more open and accepting person.” He values the Anthropology faculty and their dedication to challenging students and getting them to think critically about not only culture, but to get students to answer important questions, which include: “how do we act as people within culture? How do can we be humanitarians? How can we understand people of different backgrounds and help them?”. More importantly, Anthropology has really helped him listen to people of different backgrounds.
An important part of Conner’s St. Mary’s experience was studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland at the University College of Dublin. There he learned about Archeology, more specifically, Anthropology. As he was experiencing a new culture, he used his anthropological perspective in order to understand Irish and British culture. When Conner graduates in May, he will “…[I'll] miss the people. The river is always going to be here. The academic buildings will always be here. Somewhere is another campus center, Great Room, but the people won’t.”