Campus Celebrity: Michelle Howell C’15

Since starting “Tuesday Toasts” last year, a bi-monthly event at the Wick that highlights the accomplishments of students, Michelle Howell, a senior Anthropology major and Women’s and Gender Studies minor from Danville, Kentucky, has brought attention to dozens of her peers who deserve recognition for their achievements. Howell, however, whose laundry list of achievements includes Co-Director of the Bairnwick Women’s Center, internships at End Slavery Tennessee and the Friends of South Cumberland, SOP expedition leader, volunteer at Holly’s House, Body Project/FEED facilitator, Sewanee FOG, and Omicron Delta Kappa: The National Leadership Society, among at least a dozen other organizations she has been involved in, rarely receives recognition herself. Because, as she puts it, she is passionate about “showing people they have a voice that needs to be heard.”

As a second-year resident and its current Co-Director, Howell has turned the Wick into a megaphone for previously unheard voices. Through events like the wildly popular Pinnacle Luncheons, “The Relationship Project” film she produced with Mary Ottley C’15, facilitated discussions with influential national figures such as Childhood USA’s Charlotte Brandin, and the aforementioned Tuesday Toasts, Howell has provided an invaluable forum for students to make others aware of important issues that might never have otherwise made their way inside the Sewanee bubble. “The Wick has taught me the power of activism,” she said. “And I, along with many students on this campus, use it as a tool to manage details that affect the quality of an individual’s life.”

Still, never one to take all the credit, Howell said it’s her fellow students and residents that have made the Wick such a force on the Domain. “I want to continuously thank the campus for evolving, growing, and transforming to accept that ‘women’s issues’ are not just women’s issues.”

Humble, driven, and passionate are only a few words other students have used to describe Howell. “What I admire in her the most is her ability to be anywhere in any situation and never utter an ounce of insecurity,” said Alexandra George C’15. “It is this contagious confidence that gives others the permission not to have to question their worth. She empowers so many with her mere presence to feel both beauty and confidence.”

“Michelle is endlessly supportive and sometimes frustrates herself because she wants so badly to support everyone,” said Sarah Flowers C’15, also a Co-Director of the Wick. “She’s one of the most inspiring women I know because of all the work that she’s done.”

When asked what she hopes to be when she leaves the Mountain, Howell simply replied “happy”. Whether she’s an activist, educator, anthropologist, or higher education administrator, one thing is for certain: whatever path she chooses, she will run down that path full speed, knocking down stereotypes and inequalities as she goes, leaving a trail of positive change behind her. No matter what you do, she said, “compliment people. Magnify their strengths, not their weaknesses.”