Class of '62 Student Enrichment Fund Event
Campus visit by Dewitt Jones
September 19, 2019  

On September 19, 2019, as part of the Class of '62 Student Enrichment Fund series, Dewitt Jones was the featured speaker at an All-School Meeting in Eppley Auditorium.

Background
Dewitt Jones is an American professional photographer, writer, film director and public speaker, who is known for his work as a freelance photojournalist for National Geographic and his column in Outdoor Photographer Magazine. He produced and directed two films nominated for Academy Awards: Climb (1974), nominated for Best Live Action Short Film, and John Muir's High Sierra (1974), nominated for Best Short Subject Documentary. His column, Basic Jones, has appeared in Outdoor Photographer magazine for over 18 years. In it, Dewitt explores the spiritual side of photography. He is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College (where he was a fraternity brother of Brad Laycock '62) with a B.A. in Drama and holds a master's degree in film making from UCLA. He has written nine books: California!, Visions of Wilderness, What the Road Passes By, Robert Frost - A Tribute to the Source, Canyon Country, John Muir's High Sierra, and The Nature of Leadership which was created with Stephen R. Covey.

However, what truly brought him to our attention was his "Celebrate What's Right with the World!" TEDx Talk. (Apologies for the ad that precedes the talk.) The core of that talk was the heart of Dewitt's presentation at Culver.

Campus Visit
Before the All-School Meeting, Dewitt spent time in Crisp Arts Center (the building known as Eppley Hall of Science in our day) talking with Honors Visual Arts Students and lunching with them as well as the Class of '62 alums who were on-site for the event. (7 members of the Class of '62 were at Culver for Dewitt's presentation. Based on the quantity of classmates attending, the gathering has been categorized as a Mini Reunion. Details can be found using this link.)

After lunch, classmates at the lunch had a "business meeting" for our Student Enrichment Fund with Josh Pretzer, Dean of Faculty and our Academy POC for the Fund.

From down/left, around the table: Josh Pretzer (mostly back to camera), Howie Bridges (partially hidden by Josh), John Davis, Lou Desenberg, Steve Cuthbert, Craig Duchossois, Fritz Keeler ('57; recently moved from SF Bay Area to Culver; invited guest), Brad Laycock (back to camera)

At 2:30 PM All-School Meeting, Dewitt began his presentation with the theme of

His visit was extraordinarily well received as evidenced by the feedback received, some of which is included below.

There were anecdotal reports that the number of students on stage to talk with Dewitt after his presentation was the most ever after an All-School event.

That view is supported by this direct feedback from Dewitt himself:

It was indeed an honor to speak at Culver. The students were wonderful, I could have easily spent a week talking and listening to them. It became a mutual inspirational society. FYI I have had follow up conversations with two of the students who contacted me -- one for an interview for your student newspaper and one with questions about photography.

I hope our paths cross again in the not too distant future. Until then let's both keep celebrating what's right with the world!

All my best,
Dewitt

Also, see Jan Garrison's article in the Culver News blog describing the event.

CLASS OF 1962 STUDENT ENRICHMENT FUND FEEDBACK
Speaker - Dewitt Jones
September 19, 2019
As compiled by Sam Alameda (Culver Fund Officer)

Following Dewitt's presentation, a survey was given to the students. Of the 842 (+/-) students attending Culver, who possibly attended the Dewitt Jones presentation, 109 responded to the survey. Below are the survey questions and a summary of their responses.

• "Over all, how satisfied were you with Dewitt Jones' presentation?". On a scale of 1-5, 103 of the 109 responses Dewitt as a "5" (average was 4.87!).

• "In your time at Culver, how would you rate Dewitt Jones compared to other speakers?" On a scale of 0 to 10, the average was 8.9

• "Rate his presentation from 1-10, 10 being best?" The average rating was 9.1

Further, here are comments from Josh Pretzer, Dean of Faculty, in response to the survey results and the presentation:

"I can tell you that the high favorable numbers and very low unfavorable are outstanding for a speaker in a representative sampling of the student body.

"What isn't captured in the numbers are the conversations Dewitt has inspired between students, students and adults, and adults. I know I've used his message twice with my colleagues and had two students reference it to me in the barracks on BI. Dewitt has followed up with a couple of students who reached out to him, and he called me to follow up with these kids. His presence was really quite a gift to our community."

Some students also provided written comments in response to additional questions:

First, in response to the question "What was one key takeaway from his presentation?":

• "I was very inspired by his message of forging your own path with your vision and passions."

• "You should always follow your passion no matter what people think about it. If that is what makes you happy follow your passion."

• "To focus on the good in the world."

• "One must live for their passion and have things that fulfill them and make them happy. One must follow their dreams and keep trying. There is always more than one way of looking at something, so don't give up after the first right answer."

• "Take an opportunity when it comes; it will often come only once."

Second, in response to the question "Did his message resonate with you? How?"

• "YES. He showed that there is always a positive side to things. He was literally my favorite speaker I've heard in my four years here. AMAZING! PLEASE HAVE HIM BACK."

• "Yes, I really want to find my passion and he made me want to find and fulfill my passion and he made me realize it is possible."

• "Yes it changed my outlook on life. His positive outlook changed by entire week. I thought about his message multiple times throughout my day especially when things were getting ruff. I would just remind myself that this is all part of the process and it does not affect my overall nature as a human being."

• "Yes, that day I'd been starting on a project, and his speech really motivated me to go through with it."

• "His message resonated with me because I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, and this really helped me recognize that it is okay to not know what you want to do and that you can discover what you are passionate about."

• "His message resonated with me because he talked about his vision and since then, I have been able to view things from a whole new perspective i had never seen before."

• "I think right now, especially for upperclassmen, it is very easy to get caught up in the expectation and worries of getting into a good college, picking a good major, and then going into the corporate rat race. The reality is that we all have crazy passions and dreams that people seem to just throw to the wayside. To hear someone say that you can and should prioritize your dreams was truly inspiring."