Jacqueline Menn Erwin ’73

Botany (had to fulfill that science requirement!) was not a favorite freshman year. I double majored in French and Italian, went on to graduate work in English, but still owe that botany professor a debt of gratitude for two core lessons. He taught me how not to present (his delivery was monotone). But more importantly, in his first lecture, he provided an insight that stayed with me over the decades. He asked: how could we make a distant planet habitable for humans? The answer: first send seeds. My love of languages and literature flourished at Wellesley and beyond, but my great joy became teaching: planting seeds of insight, analysis, and delight in my students who grew and blossomed both in class and beyond graduation. Sending forth, planting seeds now makes all the difference to the future. A life lesson indeed.