“Wittenberg is place that challenges you to grow – to try new things, even if it is something you aren't good at and especially if it something at which you will fail. I would tell future students to cherish every moment that they have here because four years goes by all too fast!” – Sarah Watson’12
Being at Wittenberg has been like coming home for Sarah Watson. Her father, Alan, and her late grandparents, F. Kenneth Dickerson, longtime Wittenberg administrator, and Katheryn Dickerson, all graduated from the university where the passing of light is not a mere motto, but a way of life.
Watson discovered that for herself following a unique service-learning opportunity abroad.
“During my time at Wittenberg, I was most inspired on my trip to Lesotho the summer before my senior year,” Watson says.
“One of the most important things the Basotho people taught me was the concept of ‘ubuntu.’ Now ubuntu does not have a direct English translation, so I had to borrow one from Desmond Tutu.  He explains ubuntu to be, ‘the essence of being human. You know when it is there and when it is absent. It speaks about humaneness, gentleness, hospitality, putting yourself out on behalf of others, being vulnerable. It embraces compassion and toughness. It recognizes that my humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.’ That definition is a little lengthy, so the Basotho shorten it to ‘I am because we are.’  This lesson doesn’t pertain to just those of us who went to Africa.  I firmly believe that I am the person I am today because of everyone I have encountered and interacted with here at Wittenberg.”
That experience and that understanding transformed Watson, a chemistry major, in such a way that she now wants to work with global missions as part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after graduation.
“I will be spending a year in the United Kingdom volunteering for an organization called Time for God,” she says.
After that, Watson plans to continue to challenge herself in the field of chemistry as she carries on the family tradition of turning from student into the lifelong role of alumna.
Written By: Karen Gerboth
Photo By: Erin Pence
