2022 Scholarship Winner
Heidi Nydam (471412111)
Heidi attends Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and did a great job comparing the course of her great-grandmother’s life, Ruth Elizabeth More Nydam (471412), in the early twentieth century to her own, focusing both on details of their respective experiences and their hopeful and optimistic outlook for the future and interest in bettering those around them. Heidi’s essay was notable for her interest not only in comparing differences in the worlds around her and her great grandmother, but in comparing the way each of them has lived their life in response to that world. Heidi tracked down her great grandmother’s obituary and interviewed her grandfather to gather material for her essay.
Heidi's essay - To Be an Educated Woman, a Century Apart
Being born in 2003 affords a woman far more privileges than being born in 1915, as my great grandmother, Mrs. Ruth Elizabeth More Nydam was. Societal norms have shifted, expectations have drastically changed, and even my own self-perception is likely very different than my great grandmother’s was. Being born into the First World War, going to high school throughout the Depression, and then entering adulthood as World War II began is wildly different than being born in the early 2000s. Despite this, there are some parallels for my own life; middle school during The Great Recession of 2008 can be compared, although at a much smaller scale to the Great Depression, and having the entire world go to war against the COVID-19 as I was leaving high school resembles the catastrophe and strife of World War II. She also experienced one of the first waves of feminist success with the passage of the 19th amendment and a greater number of women entering the workforce. Now, I am witnessing the fight to preserve Roe v. Wade, the Me Too Movement, and far more female representation in positions of power and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Fortunately for both Ms. Ruth More and myself, our families prioritized education and still gave us the opportunity to better the world around us and our own lives amidst the tumult of the time.
If I had been born to Mr. Charles More and Mrs. Fannie More when my great grandmother was, with all of the aspects of myself that I have gained in the modern world, I likely would have followed a very similar path, especially in terms of education. Finishing high school with high enough grades to go to college as a woman in the 1930s, in combination with the funds and support from your family to do so, was rare, but like my great grandmother, I certainly would have taken advantage of such privilege. In college, pursuing self-sufficiency I would have worked hard, as she did, and therefore enter one of the only professions available to educated women at the time, teaching. She taught grades 1-8 in a single-room schoolhouse for many years, juggling different learning paces and amounts of knowledge with strict patience. While I likely would have also become a teacher, I may have pushed harder to enter scientific research as a naturalist, although this would’ve been difficult. I also would have aimed to continue teaching, learning, and to some extent traveling with the car I managed to acquire off of my teacher salary, for longer before getting married. For Ms. More, it was not atypical to follow the path she did, and especially given the time, I am proud that she persevered and learned as much as she did, but with my modern perceptions, I would not have been satisfied with just teaching and then getting married.
I am also proud to know that beyond her own education and teaching, she highly encouraged learning, and I would most certainly have done similarly. In an obituary comment, it is said that she inspired a friend to pursue a masters degree. Additionally, she instilled a drive for academic success and a desire to learn in all ten of her children. In this sense, even after marriage and the end of her teaching career, she continued her work in education with her children. I would have been an equally strong proponent of education, especially for my daughters and female friends, as she was, if not more. Gaining the right to vote would have been inspiring and given me hope for the future of women in the United States. Having ten children is not appealing to me, although being a part of the farm culture in Upstate New York may have demanded it more than I can perceive from my current position. I would have sought out birth control more actively given my knowledge of modern contraception. This would’ve been especially reinforced by my sister dying of syphilis as we graduated high school. I am uncertain of how this affected Ms. More, but I would have been inspired to advocate for greater access to contraceptives at places like my school in the future. In addition to the traditional curriculum, I would have shared medically accurate sexual education including contraception and sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis.
Over population is connected to the stress of our finite natural resources and my passion for preserving the world’s resources and corresponding biodiversity would have traveled through time with me. Being a farm wife as my great grandmother meant being connected to the land more intimately than many people are today, but in a different way than some modern appreciators are. She would have had some power over the farmland, the animals, and the way her family interacted with it. While they were successful farmers, I would have been extensively focused on sustainability with the science to back it up. While their farm likely predated some of the worst Green Revolution practices such as overusing chemical fertilizer, my focus would have especially emphasized soil preservationist practices, waste management, and ensuring that the farm could continue
supporting life long after my own time had ended, although they implemented many of these practices as well. I have great appreciation for ecosystems around us, beyond their utilitarian value of money or resources and would’ve shared this with my children.
Many of my differences are largely based on scientific and social justice progress since the peak of my great grandmother’s life. Instituting all of this change may have brought skepticism or social judgment from my neighbors and peers of the early 20th century, but as my great grandmother did to some extent, I would be proud of my difference from the norm as it was for the greater good. She saw education as so crucial and encouraged everyone around her to work towards more learning. This leads me to believe that she would’ve held many of the same values as I do, just without the knowledge that modernity has given me. Her character allowed her to endure criticism for being a teacher up until marriage, for sending her daughters to college, and for being an independent farm wife. I hope that this is because she had some of the self-assuredness that I am developing. I am thankful for her emphasis on education, because it allowed my grandfather, father, and finally myself, to pursue education as well.
Works Cited
Nydam, Charles. Personal Interview. 29 May 2022.
Seward, Percy. “Ruth Elizabeth Nydam.” Legacy. https://www.legacy.com/
obituaries/thedailystar/obituary.aspx?pid=17809439. Legacy, 19 May 2006.