Read About More Pomona People More Pomona People Carlos Almanza Bryant Cannon Christine Calderon Caitlyn Dwyer Sara Goldstein Carla Guerrero Jesse Last Carey McDonald Laurel McFadden Colton Neves Ian Sawyer James Solomon Kara Toles You Ning Sun

Some of Caitlyn Dwyer’s most memorable intellectual exchanges at Pomona have taken place outside the classroom, while walking back to the dorm, over dinner or during the late-night repast known as “Snack.”

“People at Pomona are really passionate and really curious,’’ says Dwyer. “They’re always willing to engage you in a conversation. People tell me they want to read my thesis and I’ve told other people I want to read their theses. That’s kind of weird, I guess. But that’s how Pomona people are.”

Classroom conversations are just a starting point. “If we’re having a debate in a class people don’t suddenly become disengaged at the time that the class stops,’’ she says. “They keep talking about it. They keep wanting to know more.”

And Dwyer finds that willingness to converse extends to college administrators as well. She served on an environmental committee that convinced the College to start using recycled paper for all academic departments. “They were very receptive,” says Dwyer. “You really have access to the administration here. They won’t always agree, but at least there’s a conversation.”

An English major, Dwyer has always loved writing. But at Pomona, she found a community that shared her passion and an academic department that could help her focus her interests. She is taking an advanced creative writing class with only 10 students and taught by Professor David Foster Wallace, an award-winning writer whose novel Infinite Jest recently was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels. “It’s probably the best class I’ve ever taken,” she says.

Along with helping her to focus on her goal of becoming a writer, Dwyer credits Pomona for simultaneously helping her to widen her interests. One of her favorite classes turned out to be a course of archeoastronomy she took as a freshman. At Pomona, “you can be a neuroscience major and also really like religious studies,’’ she says. “People can balance a lot of different things, and it’s all about getting that foundation of knowledge.”

She treasures Pomona’s combination of academic excellence and West Coast informality. “Sure, people are stressed out at finals,’’ says Dwyer. “But overall there is a fantastic balance between studying hard and realizing this is a time to enjoy these people that you’re with. Your wellbeing is important. Social learning and intellectual learning, they all kind of come together."