Sweet Briar College Magazine - Fall 2018

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Sweet Briar — a place she had fallen in love with as a flower
girl when she was 6 years old. A few campus visits confirmed
it was still as magical as her memory. And that magic continued.
“My experience at Sweet Briar was phenomenal,” Makayla
says. “I will forever cherish the friendships I made there, and
the relationships I had with my professors, who were always
so supportive. The entire environment truly made it seem
like you could accomplish anything you dedicated yourself to.
Sweet Briar taught me how to fight for something I love and
believe in, how to be a good leader, how to face challenges and
overcome them, how to be involved, and how to manage it all.”
Her first semester was a blur of equitation finals, with little
time for academics. She was planning to catch up over the
summer, her mother remembers, to make sure she’d be in
good shape to major in engineering. And then March 3, 2015,
happened: Halfway into her second semester, Makayla — and
everyone else in the Class of 2018 — found out the College
was closing. Or was it? Makayla took action. On April 20,
she and one other student filed a lawsuit against Sweet Briar’s
previous board.
Her father, now vice chair of the current board of directors,
remembers it well. “When she testified in court and was asked
to explain her thoughts about the closure, the first thing she
said was, ‘I have lost my home.’ To me that made it worth
fighting for in earnest,” he says.
While painful, the near-closure and subsequent saving of
the College played a huge role in Makayla’s personal development.
“I did not know that I was going to have to take the
stand, but I am so thankful that I did because it helped me
to believe that I could fight for something, and I would be
heard,” she says.
The summer’s uncertainty put her behind academically, so
Makayla had to change course: She dropped her engineering
major to a minor and went for a mathematical economics
major instead, with another minor in business. But she’s glad
she was able to stay at Sweet Briar. So is Jan.
“We looked at other colleges, and all it confirmed for us was
that [with] Sweet Briar, we made the right choice the first
time.”
And 2015 wasn’t over yet for Makayla. That winter, she
qualified for the AIEC-SRNC World Finals in Marburg,
Germany — as one of three riders on Team USA. And she
ended up winning the show jumping competition. Back home,
then-President Phil Stone organized a special awards ceremony
to greet the champion. “President Stone was amazingly
supportive,” Makayla remembers. “I was overwhelmed by all
the support from my classmates, alumnae, board of directors
and parents, and I wanted to do all I could to help the school
be recognized.”
Over the next few years, Makayla did just that: She won lots
of ribbons and was crowned high-point rider at nearly every
IHSA show. Her parents were right there, cheering her on.
She became part of Sweet Briar’s first National Collegiate
Equestrian Association team in 2017, competing as the only
Division III school against Division I schools. And each year,
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