Chris Seiders ‘28 grew up in Wiscasset, a small town on the coast of Maine, but knew he wanted to go to college somewhere far away. Thanks to his appreciation of nature, Carleton caught his eye. “The Arboretum looked pretty, so I decided to come visit,” he said. He enjoyed his visit to Carleton–and how friendly everyone was–so much that he ultimately applied early decision.
For his first classes at Carleton, Chris decided to try something new. He took Elementary German, an introductory political science course called Democracy and Dictatorship, and an Argument and Inquiry first-year seminar on philosophy through dialogues, and said that the Argument and Inquiry seminar was his favorite. He’s interested in taking more philosophy in the future. “I do want to major in philosophy potentially,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.” Chris says that he is particularly interested in East Asian philosophy, including Confucianism and Daoism, since it often receives less academic attention than European philosophy.
Chris says that he wants to explore other fields as well, especially within the humanities. “I’ll probably take a lot of history or maybe classics classes,” he said. He also plans to continue taking German, a language that is particularly important to him because one of his friends lives in Germany. “I have to be good enough at German to visit,” he said.
For his work-study positions, Chris works on Carleton’s Arb Crew, maintaining the Cowling Arboretum, as well as in a local elementary school, helping with classroom management in a kindergarten class. “I’ve worked with kids before and I enjoy doing it, so I was definitely happy to get that job,” he said.
In his spare time, Chris has been exploring the extracurricular activities that Carleton has to offer, including club tennis and board game club. He says that he also enjoys reading and spending time in the Arboretum. “I like to go on walks in the Arb when I have free time,” Chris said. “Whenever I have a spare moment, it’s nice to get out there, especially as the weather cools down and the trees start changing colors.” Because he lives on a first-year floor in Musser Hall, he has bonded with many other new students. “I’ve made a lot of friends so far,” Chris said. “Our floor is pretty tight-knit.”
After Carleton Chris plans to go to graduate school and pursue a PhD. “I think the end goal for me is to probably be a professor,” he said.
Chris said that he greatly appreciates the financial support he has received, and he emphasized the importance of the academic community that he has found at Carleton. “Coming from a high school that didn’t necessarily perform very well academically, coming to a place that actually cares more about academics has been a nice experience for me. I think only three kids from my class went to college. This has been nice, having more people I can talk to about academic things.”