After spending the spring of her junior year in Lamu, Kenya, Shelburne returned to the United States knowing she would somehow incorporate her experiences there into a thesis. The result was a photo narrative that included photos, letters and journal entries; her experiences were recounted by Eliza, a fictional third person narrator. For Shelburne, who will pursue a career combining writing with photography, the project was a great opportunity to synthesize her interests.
Southern comfort
Shelburne is one of a handful of people on campus who has retained her hometown accent. "It's good to have a little something that sets you apart … and there's nothing like a Southern accent for that!" she said.
Born and raised in East Tennessee, Shelburne is a Southern girl at heart. "The world I grew up in is a very different place, with very different people," said Shelburne.
Shelburne went to public school in Tennessee and came to New England over the summers to attend Harvard summer school. "My parents encouraged me to go out and explore the world. They did a lot of that and wanted us to get out too," said Shelburne. It was one of her friends from summer school that first suggested she visit Amherst. Before that, Shelburne was "in love with Williams."
Luckily, Shelburne changed her mind during her senior year in high school when she visited both schools. "I came here in October and was supposed to stay at Williams for two days, but I left after the first day," she said. She spent the next two days at Amherst and decided she would apply early decision.
Shelburne has no regrets about her decision to leave her Southern roots and come to Amherst.
"Being from the South has been very important in determining my experience at Amherst," said Shelburne. "It has given me a totally different perspective on Amherst, and it means that I had a lot to teach-someone's got to show people that all those Southern stereotypes aren't true!-and a lot to learn."
For Shelburne, Amherst is a place of constant learning: "I think I have someone pegged, and I find out something different about them-there are endless opportunities for that here," she said.
Shelburne emphasized the role that the classroom group dynamic played in her education. "In classes, everyone around me is learning at the same time as I am; it's different from learning that comes from the professor," she explained.
Every year, Shelburne and her friends go out on Memorial Hill and take a picture. "It's a great memory for us," she said. "A lot of my best memories of Amherst have come from this year, since I really feel like this has been the year that I have come into my own at Amherst. I've done the things I wanted in the ways that I have wanted."
A few weeks ago, Shelburne and her closest friends who are still on campus went to Pinocchio's to "celebrate jobs, completing theses and ourselves as friends."
Memories like these embody Amherst for Shelburne. "The night was wonderful, and one that will stick with me all my life. These are the people I trust and love, and I met them here at Amherst. That speaks volumes about what Amherst has meant to me," she said.
Two professors stand out in Shelburne's mind as being most influential in her academic life on campus: Professor of English Barry O'Connell and Professor of Black Studies Jeff Ferguson. Both pushed her to "think hard." Shelburne's hardest class was Introduction to Black Studies with Professor Ferguson during her freshman year. "It was the most challenging course I've taken here," she said. "He made us think so hard."
O'Connell helped Shelburne conceive her thesis; he helped her think about her experiences in Kenya in a way conducive to creating a thesis. "He taught me how to think about it; he said, 'You can do it,'" said Shelburne.
African skies
In the spring of her junior year, Shelburne studied abroad in Kenya. She traveled throughout the country during the semester; the place which made the biggest impact on her was the island of Lamu. While there, she received the inspiration for her thesis: a photo-narrative told through a third person, Eliza. Her thesis combines many of her passions: photography, English and travel.
Shelburne found the freedom to combine fiction and autobiography enriching and invigorating. She explained the character of Eliza: "She was me, but she also wasn't. I could distance myself and create something new."
Shelburne benefited from Lamu's small community; she had the opportunities to become close to the people and learn about the culture.
"It was small enough to meet people, take good pictures. I loved it; I had a wonderful time. I left wanting to do my thesis on Kenya," said Shelburne. When she returned there in the fall of her senior year, this desire became a reality.
Shelburne went back to Lamu this past January with funding from the College as part of her thesis. She thinks students should be more aware of these funds and push to receive them. "I want people to know the money is there and accessible. You just have to look around a little, and there are funds here that you can receive," said Shelburne.
Even though she returned to the same place in Lamu in January, her experience was different from when she had been there for a semester-she went back alone, without a group. "I was on my own. I didn't have any friend group of Americans; my friends were all people from Lamu. I was within the experience the whole time. I couldn't disengage as easily," said Shelburne. During both trips, Shelburne kept a journal that later became the skeleton of her thesis.
She returned from Lamu with photographs, journal entries and newspaper clippings-the final outcome would be 125 to 130 pages of text written in the voice of Eliza.
Shelburne's thesis-writing experience can only be described as intense. She spent long hours in the computer center, hardly sleeping for three weeks and going to Dairy Mart at 3 a.m. "But finishing it makes it all seem worth it. And makes your bed look damn good after so long a time away," said Shelburne. "My thesis was a wonderful-and horrible!-memory."
Shelburne was comforted by the presence of the other senior thesis-writers in the computer center, who were undergoing similar experiences. "We became very close while we were writing our theses ... There's nothing that brings people closer than 3 a.m. trips to get snacks," added Shelburne.
Strike a pose
After graduation, Shelburne is going to spend the summer interning at The Atlantic Monthly in Boston and will move to New York in the fall to pursue a career in photojournalism. She does not see herself returning to live in Tennessee, but instead hopes to do a lot of traveling and writing.
Said Shelburne, "I have always loved to just set off on my own and travel, as well as to document that adventure, so continuing to do work like I have done in my thesis would be a wonderful thing … the only tricky part is convincing someone else that they should let me do it-and pay me while they're at it!"