NOTE: The Senior Close-Up is a frequent 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
Bard College Sports Information Director
If there’s one thing that Hannah Becker can’t stand, it’s boredom.
She doesn’t respond to boredom the way a typical person might. A typical person might squirm, yawn, or roll their eyes. Hannah Becker is more likely to just get up and leave. Politely, of course.
The Bard College senior is finishing up her collegiate career – typically for her - in a most unusual way.
She came to Bard to study Photography. But she’ll graduate in May with a degree in Art History.
She’s never been much of an athlete. Yet she’s the starting goalie on the women’s lacrosse team.
And she’s chosen a Senior Project subject that apparently nobody has ever researched before, leaving her with little or no source material to start with.
This all fits in with Becker’s plan, which is no plan at all, because plans are – you guessed it – boring. She lives her life with a creative, energetic, intelligent flair and a smile on her face, because she finds this whole journey fascinating.
The journey began in Wayne, Pa., where she was raised by her parents, Sam and Amanda, and grew up with her older brother, Noah. They lived close to the Valley Forge National Historical Park – and one of the largest malls in America. Best of both worlds – just the way she likes it.
Sure, she played lacrosse in 7th and 8th grade, but when she got to huge Conestoga High School, she “was much more into creative pursuits and academics,” participating in marching band, studio arts, musical theater and the like.
When she got to Bard, she immediately felt isolated from the world and hated it.
“What I realized later is that freshman year, many of us were uncomfortable,” Becker said, referring to her classmates. “I misconstrued people's awkwardness as being mean.”
Sophomore year things got better, “but it was still weird,” Becker said.
It wasn’t until her junior year that she realized how much she loved Bard. You see, she spent an entire semester abroad in Rome, Italy, studying her new major – Art History. That was the fall of 2009.
“It was unbelievable,” Becker said of the experience. “I matured as a person. I was able to live a real life. We would hear a lecture one day, then the next day we’d go to the site the lecture was about, or to the museum to see the pieces we were talking about.”
The “open classroom” approach was anything but boring, and Becker flourished. Her love of art history – a subject she found utterly non-interesting in high school – grew to the point where it became a passion of hers.
“While I was in Rome, I felt a little sad about not being at Bard,” Becker said. “It clicked for me that I loved being here. So spring semester of my junior year I was the happiest I’ve ever been.”
That was also the first semester of women’s lacrosse as a varsity program at Bard. A club team the year before, Becker joined the team as a goalie and was happy to join a campus group she hadn’t been acquainted with yet: Student-athletes.
As is the case with most first-year varsity programs, the team struggled, going 1-10. Becker faced 323 shots in 11 games. But this season has seen an uptick in the number of players on the roster, and an increase in the number of players with lacrosse experience.
The Raptors won their first game of the season, matching their win total from the year before. Becker faced just 10 shots.
“A lot of us went into this season thinking it was going to be really hard again, and we wondered how many people would come out,” Becker said. “But I’ve been really impressed. We all of the sudden have got a lot of numbers. And many of the freshmen have experience playing lacrosse.”
When she’s not busy stopping hard rubber objects from getting behind her on the lacrosse field, Becker is the President of the Senior Class Committee, and she’s working hard on her Senior Project.
She chose to do research on the use of glitter in contemporary art. Why glitter? Why not?
“I’ve always loved glitter,” Becker said. “It’s been a really hard go of it. I feel a little behind because I’ve spent so much time figuring out how to navigate the subject; there’s no social history of glitter."
Graduation will bring a new set of challenges.
“I will probably work in an art gallery,” Becker said. “I’m interested in art advising. It’s a career in which you help collectors acquire artwork. I find the commerce of art really interesting. I think what appeals to me about it is it seems a little bit like a game.”
There is no professional association for art advisors, so there’s no typical path to follow to have a career in that field. Becker will have to navigate uncharted territory herself.
And she wouldn't want it any other way.
