When checking my e-mail over fall break, I noticed the words “become more” printed in bold at the top right corner of the Guilford home page. “Become more,” I thought. “Become more what?” Little did I know, “Become more” is our current slogan, adopted by admissions nearly two years ago. Taglines such as “Become more” and “Guilford got me there!” are used as a part of the promotion for the college and for student recruitment.
Marketing tactics aside, I think it’s important that we ask ourselves what message this slogan is sending to prospective students who are considering attending Guilford..
At the bottom of some alumni profiles on the Web site is a blurb about how “become more” manifests itself in the Guilford community.
According to Guilford.edu, “Guilford College provides a positive, transformative experience in the Quaker tradition for students of all ages.”
“For me it should be a Zen Quaker paradox,” said Max Carter, campus ministry coordinator and director of the Friends Center. “In the Quaker tradition you become more by becoming less-less concerned with wealth and material.”
By using the tagline “become more,” are we really becoming less? Is Guilford emphasizing our Quaker values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship when recruiting potential students?
“The approach that our traditional admission staff and CCE areas have used to promote Guilford is to tell the stories of, in most cases, recent alumni,” said Ty Buckner, senior director of communications and marketing, “with the stories reflecting what we call outcomes. The product of a Guilford education.”
These outcomes that Buckner refers to are the recent graduates, both CCE and traditional, profiled on the current homepage and throughout the Web site. Students profiled include, a current equity capital markets analyst for Wachovia, a Doctor of veterinary medicine candidate at Mississippi State University and a middle school secretary.
By sharing their diverse stories with prospective students, Buckner hopes that “become more” is seen by students as a challenge as well as a reflection of what their experience at Guilford can be.
The bottom of many alumni profiles read, “(Guilford students) engage the community outside of the classroom, expanding their world view. They interact with individuals from all sectors of society, expanding their cultural understanding. At Guilford, every student shares one path: they each become more.”
As a senior beginning to figure out my own life’s purpose, and what my next step will be, I reflect on my past four years at Guilford. Have I become more? I guess that depends on your definition.
Have I grown as an individual? Most certainly. Have I expanded my world view by interacting with students of different religious, ethnic, regional and national backgrounds? Yes. Have I engaged in the community outside the classroom through internships and community service? Definitely.
I’m not saying that Guilford by any means perfect. I’m not even sure that there was an entirely unified stance on what students we should be, and are, attracting to our institution by creating this ultimately vague slogan.
But above all, I believe that Guilford can be a transformative place. It is a place that has helped me develop into a more confident and socially conscious individual. Have I become more, though? I think you’ll have to be more specific.