Manifesting connection

By Margaret Wilson

Bri Braswell ’16 lives her life by one motto: What will be for her will come to her. 

Her professional and personal lives have been marked by serendipity, putting opportunities in her path that she never expected. A Posse Scholar from Maryland, Braswell had never heard of Lafayette before she was matched. But soon, she formed a deep connection with the College, going on to major in anthropology and sociology, serving as a resident adviser, and performing at the College’s 150th Rivalry game at Yankee Stadium as co-captain of the dance team. 

Originally planning to graduate from Lafayette and pursue a wedding planning internship, she was instead offered a Connected Communities Fellowship at the College, which eventually led to her current work. 

Today, Braswell serves as the associate director of Admissions for Lafayette College, a role that allows her to pull from her experience as an alumna while also planting the seeds for growth. 

“I think my most transformative years were after college, being here, just by the nature of my connections with others and my own identity,” she says. “I’ve seen so much growth in myself, not only as a professional, but as a whole person.” 

As the pandemic hit and Braswell started feeling the pull toward advancing her education, the perfect program was put in her path: a Master’s of Education program at Harvard University. 

Braswell utilized the Lafayette community around her to support her Harvard application, getting a letter of recommendation from her former adviser in anthropology and sociology, Prof. Rebecca Kissane. Kissane had set up a meeting, two years prior, between Braswell and a Harvard sociologist—who would one day turn out to be Braswell’s graduate adviser. 

As a first-generation student who had to navigate the college admissions process for the first time, building networks with professors like Kissane, other students in her Posse cohort, and members of the higher education community allowed her to open doors. It’s advice she gives to prospective students as well. 

Connections, more than anything, will set students up for success throughout their lives. She echoed this message when she was given the chance to be part of the team selecting the 20th class of Posse DC and to speak to them at their induction ceremony. 

“This experience is more than just going to college,” she said to the incoming class. “You are with other people who get it. They understand your home, and they bring pieces of home to you when you’re here.” 

“I think my entire outlook on education, and even myself, would be completely different if I didn’t have them,” she says of her own Posse cohort. 

Fortune struck again when Braswell’s coursework at Harvard inspired her to incorporate movement into education. Already a Zumba instructor with College Recreation Services, she had just decided to get certified in barre when she saw an Instagram ad for a scholarship giveaway from an organization nicknamed the “Harvard of Barre.”

While she didn’t win the initial giveaway, the committee was so impressed with her application that she received special dispensation to fund the certification. She has now added barre classes to her teaching schedule at Lafayette. 

“To me, [fitness] classes feel like a classroom where students are learning about their own bodies,” she says. “They’re learning about growing in strength, and they’re connecting with one another.” 

Braswell is able to use the diversity of her own experience to more fully understand the landscape of admissions, as demographics continue to change.

“I think admissions within higher education is a space where you can do the same thing for 30 years and not think twice about changing it,” she says. “But I feel like this new generation of students is demanding something different. I think about how we can create the best, most memorable experience for students and their families.” 

Part of that success is embracing programs like Posse and financial aid initiatives that work to enrich the tapestry of the Lafayette community.

“It’s everybody coming together, and I will be a proponent of these [kinds of programs] forever,” Braswell says. “You want to have the most thriving space possible, and you need to have intellectual differences. You need to have those who come from particular areas geographically, you need all of that.

“Everyone wants to belong. It’s an innate human need,” she adds. “I think students are starting to focus on where they feel and find that fit.” 

Whether on the dance floor or on a high school visit, Braswell believes it all comes down to the sense of connection that’s been a through-line in her life. 

“Especially coming from Posse, I know in the fabric of my bones that we get through things together,” she says. “So finding the community of movement, of fitness, of education, of admissions—this has pretty much been the thread between everything I’ve done.”