Wofford Resilience Project hosts first event of the year, “Wofford, I F*#%^d Up”

The Wofford Resilience Project held their first campus-wide event on Wednesday, Nov. 20, titled “Wofford, I F*#%^d Up”—a stand-up, open mic forum open to all students. Participants volunteered to voice past mistakes—or “fuck ups” as many called them—from their lives in front of the audience. A mixture of funny and serious replies graced the audience, but regardless of the story’s contents, the exercise was meant to be cathartic for participants.  

“The purpose of this event was to create a safe environment to allow students to share struggles they’ve faced and to let everyone know that we all mess up and make mistakes! In regards to the project, the event highlighted the idea of resiliency and how we can keep moving and thriving even after we make big mistakes and that even if we don’t solve every issue or always know what to do, we’re never alone,” reflected Rogers. 

The Resilience Project is an ongoing effort to “collect stories relating to a challenge, a stressful situation, or adversity,” according to the project’s website. The project coordinators—Abbey Brasington, ‘19, Cameron Jackson, ‘19, Meghan Dempsey, ’20, and Abby Logue, ’20 with faculty leaders Patrick Whitfill, professor of English, and John Lefebvre, professor of psychology—recently completed a book filled with these stories of Wofford resilience, from students, faculty and alumni. The book contains anecdotes from students struggling with academic rigor and split friendships, retellings from faculty of how they found their place in academia and stories of former students overcoming the difficulties of being a Wofford student. Since Brasington and Jackson graduated last year, Alisa Rogers, ‘22, and Margaret Roach, ’21 have joined in their place as project coordinators this year.  

One of the forum’s rules was that the students’ words not be retold, but the Old Gold and Black received permission to use examples told by some of the Resilience Project leaders: 

“When I was a freshman at Wofford, my advisor told me to take Chemistry 123. And I failed every single test… I got in between the range of a 40 to 50 every single test,” said one leader. “Wofford, I fucked up.” 

Another leader recounted her experience learning that she had been in a relationship with someone that she later learned had been in another relationship at the same time. 

Rogers said, “We think that the event was extremely successful. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback and plan on hosting a similar event in the spring!” 

The Resilience Project coordinators are still gathering stories of resilience for a second book, so students, faculty and alumni are still encouraged to submit stories online. Follow the Resilience Project on Instagram at @woffordresilience.