Combatting the “Wofford Bubble” 

Many Wofford students might have heard a term “the Wofford Bubble” commonly thrown around by those on campus or in the Spartanburg community. This phrase reflects the stereotype that Wofford students spend most of their time on campus in a comfortable, relatively affluent environment, intentionally isolated from the rest of the city of Spartanburg, much of which lives in poverty. However, for those students who take the initiative, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in the community and help combat this stereotype.  

A number of students have already taken proactive measures, such as sophomore Louissa Pfundt, who is spearheading a partnership with the Spartanburg Housing Authority to begin an after-school program next year called “Let’s Read.” The idea is to pair kids up with a mentor who will help them for a few hours a week with reading and give them essential one-on-one time. Pfundt talked about how valuable the program will be. “Building mentor relationships with the kids is really important…we can’t understand [the] life that they have versus ours, because we have different lives, but getting to know people [and] building the relationships and stuff, it helps you build a greater perspective.” Pfundt is by no means the only student involved in a program like this.  

Freshman Ella Jarrett told me a bit about her experience working at Arcadia Elementary School. 

“I go to Arcadia for my Spanish 303 class and I go into a fourth grade classroom and help with their reading and writing hour that they do as part of their school day, [you] know how there was math, science, each one was an hour of the day, I go during the reading and writing one. I pull students aside to individually read and [I] mark down for the teacher how well they’re reading and if they have comprehension problems, things like that. Then I help the students with things like how to sound out words, because the kids are in fourth grade, but they’re reading on a second grade level, so there’s a bit of unevenness there.”  

When asked about the most rewarding aspect of her work, Jarrett responded, “The kids are just so fun, I love them, and they’re really appreciative of people when they come, they never say anything mean to me, which is nice. You can tell they appreciate it when people put effort and time into their lives because they’ll reward you by being so grateful, and you can just tell they’re really happy you’re there, which is really fun.”  

For those students who are worried about taking on another task amidst school and extracurriculars, it is important to know that the time requirements are not back-breaking, and are often flexible. Jarrett goes once a week, for one hour, although she plans to spend three hours a day throughout the school week during interim, as she chose to spend more time at Arcadia in lieu of other options. Be it for an hour or two a week, or moving towards an even greater commitment, Pfundt highlights the benefits for Wofford students broadening their horizons beyond campus: 

“Community engagement in general is really important because it’s a positive, optimistic influence on the community, and when people care about the community the community will grow and expand [and] improve and when people care it just makes a difference. 

Written by Chalmers Rogland