2023

Personally Speaking: Summer Whitley ’24

Summer Whitley ’24 is a studio art and computer science double major and art history minor from Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

 Tuesday, July 25, 2023 08:54 AM

Summer Whitley ’24. Photo by Marco Calderon

Personally Speaking is a feature of Muhlenberg Magazine in which our writers interview students and alumni about their own personal stories. This article was originally published in the Summer 2023 issue of Muhlenberg Magazine.

They knew (most of) what they wanted to study when they came to Muhlenberg.
“Most people draw when they’re young, but I’ve been consistently drawing since I was young. I’ve always liked all sorts of media, like sculpting and painting, so it was a given [for me] that I was going to major in studio art. I also knew that I wanted to get into video games, and I had learned some programming in high school. I’m a math person and I find that computer programming is just like math with words. I had to take a couple of art history classes for the studio art major. I remember talking to my friends and my partner about all the wild stuff that happens in art history, and I was like, ‘Oh, I think I actually want to look more into this.’”

They studied abroad in Tokyo this spring …
“I was reading manga at four years old. From there, I got really invested in learning about Japanese culture. My early art was all based on Japanese cartoon art styles. I’m not studying it at Muhlenberg because I can’t fit it in, but I’m also really interested in theology, and Japan’s combination of Shinto and Buddhism is really interesting. They’re not diametrically opposed, but they’re not the same, and yet they influence each other and coexist in the same spaces. I wanted to see how that was playing out in temples and areas of worship. And Japan is one of the best places to go if you’re into video games. I didn’t really want to go to a European country because I didn’t feel like my worldview was going to be challenged enough.”

… and experienced a lot of growth during their time in Japan.
“I went through Temple University — they have a campus in Tokyo. All of their dorm buildings are really far from campus, so I had an hour-long commute every day. I had to take a train and transfer and then I was walking like 20 minutes. I really got to experience Tokyo from the very beginning of my time there. My time abroad in general showed me that I can be resilient, independent and competent. I lived by myself all semester. Nobody was holding my hand, so I learned a lot more about Japan from locals rather than Temple. There wasn’t a meal plan, so I had to grocery shop and cook. It was the first time I had to do that. It was a lot to manage on top of classes, and it showed me I can manage all that.”

On campus, they are the student director of the Muhlenberg Useful Living Essentials (M.U.L.E.) Community Cabinet …
“I started working at the M.U.L.E. Cabinet as a student worker the first month I was at Muhlenberg, in August 2020. There were a lot of different work-study jobs I could’ve picked, but I wanted to do that one because I feel very strongly about accessibility. The M.U.L.E. Cabinet makes the college experience just a tiny bit more accessible by providing the essentials if you can’t leave campus or afford to buy those things. The student director still does all the jobs a student worker does — keeping track of inventory, stocking shelves, opening the cabinet, taking appointments — but also organizes fundraisers and works with other people across campus to grow the cabinet.”

… and they painted a mural on the lower level of Seegers Union to direct people to the cabinet.
“There was a discussion group of different student leaders at Muhlenberg to figure out how we could work together regarding sustainability and combating hunger. I think Jess Rosen ’24 was the one who suggested there should be something downstairs to draw people into the cabinet, because it is hiding in a corner. I think she mentioned a mural. I really liked that idea and I brought it to [Chaplain and M.U.L.E. Cabinet Advisor] Janelle [Neubauer]. She also really liked it. I had to go to [Director of Seegers Union & Student Experience] Ellen Lentine to get it approved. She was also super into it. I did the design and told her what colors of paint I needed. It was much bigger [than anything I’d painted before]. There was also a bit more pressure because it’s a longer-term thing, but I knew it was going to be good for the cabinet. Now, when you go downstairs in Seegers, you know that [the cabinet] exists, which is really nice.”