Whitney Lewis is Vice President of Enrollment Management and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Oglethorpe.
“What happened was, my wonderful husband called me at work one day, and he was at the Humane Society. And he said, ‘Baby, would you be mad if we had a dog?’ and I said, ‘is this a hypothetical situation or not?’ and he鈥檚 like, ‘okay, well, I don鈥檛 have a car here, so you need to come down and pick me and the dog up.’ He had scooted there on his little scooter.
And so, we impromptu adopted a dog. Scoutie is so cute. She is two years old, and a mutt. She鈥檚 probably, like, a pit bull mix. She is not smart, but she’s so perfect and she’s so cute, and she always reminds me that we should all just be walking听outside, wagging our tails and smelling the flowers. That鈥檚 all there is to it.
Actually, this part is embarrassing. We thought about a bunch of names, and I love to read鈥擨 even studied English because I am such a nerd and I love to read. That鈥檚 really as far as I got in terms of my professional planning, is that I love to read and I love to write, so that鈥檚 what I wanted to study. And To Kill听A听Mockingbird is a classic, of course, and I loved the name Scout. And it also just seemed to fit her. We thought we were being so original, and were really patting ourselves on the back about it. Then, when I dropped her off at doggie daycare for the first time, the woman was like, ‘oh, Scout. We have eight other Scouts.’ And I was like, ah, so it seems I am not so original.听
I have a couple of tattoos. The one that鈥檚 mostly visible is on my arm. People always think it鈥檚 the Creation of听Adam, the Michelangelo painting, which honestly I don鈥檛 hate, but it’s not actually supposed to be that. It鈥檚 just hands. I love this idea of reaching out for connection, and even if you can’t actually feel someone there, knowing that people are never far out of reach. But that you have to make the effort, and you have to be reaching out. So I like that idea of two hands almost touching. I really like that one.听
And then I have some words that say 鈥淭his is it.鈥� I really like that phrase鈥攊t鈥檚 鈥渢his is it鈥�, and an exclamation point鈥攂ecause I like that it’s all a matter of perception. You can say, 鈥渢his is…it.鈥� and have it seem deflated, or like you’re settling for something. Or, the exact same phrase鈥攍ike, 鈥渢his is it!鈥�, can mean that you鈥檙e seizing the opportunity, and the moment, and that it is the only place to be. I really like that鈥攁n image of how you have one body, one life, and one opportunity to make things count.
We have a neon sign that says it, too鈥擨 got the tattoo first, neon sign second. But that鈥檚 the motto.听This is it! It鈥檚 like a better YOLO. Don鈥檛 print that. A healthy YOLO. Constructive YOLO.”
