Lessons I took from the Hill
By Krystie Adams Herndon ’84
Entering college wasn’t as scary for me as for most freshmen for one reason: I brought my identical twin sister, Audrey Adams Bigelow ’84, with me. During our college search, our mom requested that we attend the same school, as she couldn’t bear the thought of having her heart in two places. We chose McDaniel — formerly Western Maryland College (WMC) — for many reasons: beautiful campus; in-state school for our scholarships; far enough from home to enjoy weekends on campus without guilt; and everything we both wanted to study.
Growing up as the kids of a high-achieving Black Army officer, Audrey and I were used to being the only Black students in many classrooms, so we hit campus with our usual right-hands-extended, meet-and-greet flair.
While Audrey found her footing as a four-year ROTC scholarship cadet, I joined the performance group Sounds of Silence, and we both discovered Admissions tour guides and campus choir. We also made lifelong friends through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Sharing the same faith helped us maintain friendships that feel as close as family. Our offspring have become friends; Audrey is godmother to one friend’s firstborn; and my husband and I continue to support another friend whose ministries have carried her all over the world. Attending WMC allowed my sister and me to hone our connecting superpowers, which have stood us in good stead for the past 40 years.
Working with and living among military families and college students, Audrey and I have developed a concept of family that extends across generations and geographical boundaries. Audrey spent over 20 years as an Army officer and Army spouse, moving over half a dozen times. At each location, she immersed herself in the military chapel system’s Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) ministry, the local Catholic congregation, and her two sons’ schools. She continues not only to create and maintain relationships across the world through PWOC and cantoring for Catholic mass, but she also mentors young military mothers, works as a public library page, and leads the second alto section of the prestigious City Choir of Washington, D.C., all alongside caring for family members in the Baltimore-Washington area.
While I’ve been at Indiana University Bloomington for the past 37 years, I have helped fledge hundreds of college students out into the world. In the past 17 years as an academic advisor, I have mentored dozens of colleagues to be inspiring professionals, while also acquiring dozens of “bebes” beyond my own three grown kids. Thanks to Nancy Turner Parlette ’82, I have become a LinkedIn maven to keep in touch with the alums I have influenced across the College of Arts and Sciences. Because of that, alums from more than a decade ago still contact me regularly for encouragement and guidance in their mid-career lives.
I’m sure Aud would agree with me that our time on the Hill helped our hearts expand to see that family transcends blood, time, and proximity, and garners new growth with each new acquaintance.