Logan Baitinger
Logan Baitinger
Major: Communication
Minor: Spanish
Hometown: Collegeville, PA
“Pro Humanitate is a motto that encapsulates, in my opinion, my entire purpose and being in life.”
Greatest change since your first year
Coming in as a first-year student, I had many doubts and fears for the future. I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I wanted to major in. I felt behind and out of place. Though for many, electives and other first-year requirements provide some sense of direction, I was no closer to finding my true passions. Since then, I have spent my time experimenting and learning from various disciplines. From philosophy to economics, I tried it all. And yet, I still do not know exactly where my passions lie. What I do know is that I am passionate about interdisciplinarity and the liberal arts, and Wake Forest, as a whole, provided me with such. I exist academically, professionally, and socially in this liminal space between disciplines, combining and innovating my pursuits. While in my first-year, I would have been terrified of this reality, I have learned to embrace it with open arms and welcome the beautiful chaos that is interdisciplinarity.
Impact of Pro Humanitate
Pro Humanitate is a motto that encapsulates, in my opinion, my entire purpose and being in life. I seek to utilize empathy and empathetic structures to create a more equitable and just society — however one might define such. I always had a surface-level understanding of the motto in my first few years at Wake Forest, but only recently did I truly understand and embody it. Pro Humanitate does not simply lie in the vast donations Wake Forest receives nor in the community service and volunteer hours Wake Foresters partake in; Pro Humanitate is in every single decision we make. Every second, we must consciously consider those around us while also considering ourselves. Sure, Pro Humanitate isn’t necessarily all-encompassing altruism; it is finding a balance between self-serving personal actions and the betterment of humanity as a whole.
Favorite course outside your major
My favorite class is definitely Dr. Adrian Greene’s “Casting Shadows: Gothic Fiction” class, where we read and examined Gothic and darker texts that ranged from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” to Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” While I am not necessarily an avid reader, I truly loved this course, as it allowed the class to examine traditional texts from an appropriately contextualized perspective (the author and society’s point of view). It allowed us to begin to apply empathy to our learning, whether we knew it or not. I believe this course is the embodiment of the necessary type of thinking a world as broken as ours must begin to adopt in order to begin healing.
Most influential person(s) in your journey
I believe that Dr. Adrian Greene has most impacted my Wake Forest experience. Starting as one of my professors, Dr. Greene rapidly became more of a mentor figure for me. He allowed me to explore various disciplines and hone in on my strong suits and passions, even if he was not aware of it. Every class I have taken with him has been something I never in a million years would have thought I would enjoy, but I enjoyed every single second of it, and I truly believe it is simply because Dr. Greene was instructing the class. Dr. Greene is truly an amazing academic and individual, and I will always look up to him as both a role model and a friend.
What you’d tell your first-year self
As a graduating senior, I wish I could tell myself not to freak out about the little things, or even the big things, for that matter. Things have a funny way of working themselves out one way or another. I would tell myself to work hard and enjoy the ride because it goes quick.