NOTE: The Senior Close-Up is an occasional feature on the Bard Athletics web site, with the focus being the life of a student-athlete at Bard. Here, every student must complete a Senior Project to graduate. The Senior Project is an original, individual, focused project growing out of the student’s cumulative academic experiences. Preparation begins in the junior year, and one course each semester in the senior year is devoted entirely to the Senior Project. The student submits the completed project to a committee of three professors and participates with them in a Senior Project Review.
By Jim Sheahan
Director of Athletic Communications & Marketing
Julia DeFabo didn't realize it when she said it, but the truth is, many Bard students say the exact same thing by the time they're seniors.
"Bard has a way of making you do things you never thought about before," she said.
She never thought she'd end up thinking about a career as a curator or teacher. She never thought she's spend a semester in France. And if you had told her when she was a freshman that she was going to spend four months living and studying in Senegal, she would have laughed.
The youngest of four children to Lynn and Francis, Julia drew a circle on a map outside of her home state of Pennsylvania as a high school senior, and it encompassed many of the small liberal arts schools in the Northeast. She considered Sarah Lawrence, Vassar, Fordham and Amherst, among others. Tennis had to be part of the equation, because she'd been playing since she was nine years old.
"I met with (Bard coach) Fred Feldman, and he was really honest. He said, "You might not remember everything you learn here, but by the time you leave, you'll be a better tennis player.' He was friendly and not demanding. Some of the other coaches I met were really intense and that's not something I enjoy."
She got into Bard and was thinking Sociology or Human Rights, but she didn't have to declare anything early on. She didn't want to tie herself down.
ABOVE: Julia DeFabo learns pottery from an artist in Village des Arts in Dakar, Senegal, this past summer.
Julia took an Art History class as a distribution requirement, and as part of that class, she saw an exhibition of African Art that really upset her.
"I was always obsessed with Africa, probably because I watched the 'Save Darfur' campaign while I was in high school," she said. "And the way this exhibition was displayed was colonialistic and it made me angry. I don't think the curator realized it, but the Greco-Roman art was played higher and on white pedestals."
She developed an interest and passion in African art, and her Senior Project focuses on how much of the literature about African art history is written through a Western lens.
She did a semester in France between her freshman and sophomore years, and this past summer, she spent four months living and studying in Senegal. She lived with a host family for three months, then did a month of independent study, living in an apartment building in Dakar for another month.
She lived with a middle class family in a small town for the first three months. There was a husband and wife, an older sister (23), an older brother (21), and two younger sisters (16, 10). She loved the food there - "rice and fish or meat in every meal" - and felt nurtured by her overly protective siblings.
She walked to school with other students who lived in the neighborhood. They would sometimes buy lunch together or make it in the school's kitchen.
She formed close bonds with her host family, and is considering going back in May to visit them. She uses Facebook to connect with them for the time being.
"They couldn't believe how much I was writing," DeFabo said, referring to her host family. "It's much more of an oral culture. When I did the independent study, I had to write a 30-40 page paper, which was like a practice Senior Project."
Four years after her initial visit to Bard, DeFabo is transformed. Her plan is to pursue a Ph.D. in African Art History. She is considering schools like Columbia, Harvard, University of Chicago, Michigan and Michigan State. She may take a year off first.
She looks back on her freshman year like it was 10 years ago.
"The greatest thing about freshman year was that I already had a support system here for me - the tennis team," she said. "Every girl on the team has cried on the court about personal issues. Everyone is studying different things but it doesn't matter. You're exposed to all of that and you get to know a lot of Bard students that way."
In addition to completing her senior project and playing her final year of tennis, DeFabo works in the Admissions office as a Tour Guide.
"I always tell kids considering Bard, 'I know you don't want to take a science class, but it could change your life'," she said. "Then I tell them how I came to where I am now. Bard is different that way."
