Regis College - Mount Regis Yearbook (Weston, MA)

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Unification “Women’s work is always towards wholeness.” — May Sarton, Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing. September of 1985 witnessed the final return of the woman and the knowledge of that finality hung in the air with the chill of approaching winter. The reality that she was finishing something that she had started four years ago was disconcerting; however, her expectation of the challenge that lay ahead counteracted her fear. Her concentration constantly fluctuated between thoughts about her future and daily academic concerns. It was evident that she shared this instability with the other women in her class. The strain was visible in their faces. The late night discussions which had often seemed illusory were becoming more serious as dreams were driven to reality. The thrilling surge of expectation at first seemed powerful enough to carry her to graduation, but it was not. The perseverance and determination which had seen her through the first three years would have to resurge once again. She realized that the paralyzing fear of her youth was gradually subsiding; in its place grew an inspired optimism. As she sat before the tower in the bright October sunshine she remembered her first impressions of that symbol on the letterhead of her acceptance notice. That impression had changed continuously over the past four years, but the tower remained unchanged reflecting the continuity of the education for which it stood. Glancing at her fellow classwomen walking stiffly in their newly donned robes, she recalled the huddled mass of frightened faces four years before. This group no longer merely completed All photos, Jay Mastalerz one another out of fear and insecurity, but instead complemented one another as unique individuals. The independence that had developed in each of them served not to separate them but rather to unify them as a group of aware and well-educated women. The completeness they had achieved seemed ironic as they faced their last spring together. The woman reflected that again the recurrent cycle was at an end, but while the beginning of its next revolution held some fear, she faced it with courage for she knew that in a very real way, she was whole.