It began in 1843, when four Sisters of the Holy Cross Order came from Le Mans, France, with the dream to open a college in northern Indiana. One year later, in 1844, the sisters opened their first school and Saint Mary's College was born. And 158 years later, the Sisters of the Holy Cross are still here, lending support to Saint Mary's, as the College has educated thousands of women over the years.

How is that significant today? Today is the start of Saint Mary's pride week. A week in which Saint Mary's women, present and past, celebrate the College heritage, students, athletes and each other's accomplishments.

With the freedom and encouragement that students receive from the College the women of Saint Mary's are always amazing me, whether it is missionary work in China, internships that have resulted in patents or with beautiful poetry written in class.

While the brochures are true when they state that the campus is beautiful, dorm rooms are usually big, classes are small and that the College has some impressive rankings and statistics, these would all be at the bottom of my list of reasons for Saint Mary's pride. It is the students, professors and staff I know that makes the College special to me.

No, Saint Mary's isn't for everyone and I'll admit that. Despite the fact that Saint Mary's was the only college I applied to, or wanted to go to, I didn't even like it that much my freshman year. Taking initiative I applied for the Saint Mary's Ireland program, hoping that a year away would provide me with a better college experience.

I'm not going to gush on and on about how much studying abroad changed me, but it did. My attitude towards Saint Mary's also changed, I was sad about coming back but I couldn't wait to the girls that were my family for a year.

To me Saint Mary's will always represent the great friendships I have made, in my year in Ireland and while on campus, friendships that I know will always be there.

While primarily I will have positive memories of Saint Mary's, it is not a perfect institution and the women who attend are not perfect. There are plenty of issues that upset me about Saint Mary's: the fact that there is not recognized support for lesbian, bisexual or questioning women, that there is not a recycling program and even the fact that the dining hall closes at 7 p.m. all annoy me.

There are plenty of outlets to voice my concerns, whether at a Board of Governance meeting, talking with the hall director or even e-mailing or setting up an appointment with the College president or vice-presidents. I may not like the answer I get, or agree with it, but from experience I have always gotten one.

So in this week celebrate Saint Mary's pride by celebrating the people you know at Saint Mary's, by questioning what you don't like about the College and working to change it for yourself and future generations.

• SMC pride