Sweet Briar College Magazine - Spring 2016

ORK
There’ve been a lot of
reminders lately of Sweet
Briar’s motto, “Rosam quae
meruit ferat.” She who has
earned the rose may bear it.
In February 2015, an opportunity presented itself
to visit New York City — a place where bearers of
the Sweet Briar rose have for decades made their
presence known, from Wall Street to Broadway.
We couldn’t catch up with all of the Sweet Briar
women of New York — so no slight to the lawyers,
artists, scientists, bankers and entrepreneurs we
didn’t talk to — but in two days and two nights,
we traversed Manhattan and crossed the bridge
to Brooklyn to find nine alumnae where they live,
work and play.
New Yorkers are a special breed and New York
City a special place. Wendy Weiler ’71 puts it this
way:
“John Updike defined ‘the true New Yorker’ as
someone who came with a ‘secret belief that people
living anywhere else had to be, in some sense,
kidding.’ Like most New Yorkers, I believe New
York is the center of the universe.”
Whether natives or transplants, ambitious
youngsters or wily veterans, we wanted to know
how these women have hit their strides in the Big
Apple. We asked a bunch of questions and got plenty
of answers. In the pages that follow, their edited
responses provide a snapshot of their working lives
and a glimpse of the New York experience.
Each of these graduates is a testament to the
wisdom of Indiana Fletcher Williams, who created
Sweet Briar to teach women to be not merely
educated, but “useful” members of society. And
they are a testament to the women and men who
for 115 years have made Indiana’s vision a reality.
– Story by Jennifer McManamay,
Photos by Meridith De Avila Khan
SBC.EDU | SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE
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